Bengaluru : A notorious, elusive underworld operative Bannanje Raja, who is wanted in more than 40 criminal cases, including the December 2013 murder of a BJP leader and businessman in the coastal Karnataka region of Karwar, has been detained in Morocco on the basis of information provided by Indian law enforcement agencies, police in Karnataka have claimed.

Mangalore city police commissioner S Murugan confirmed the arrest of Raja who was allegedly hiding in Morocco after changing his name to Hegde. Bannanje Raja is wanted in many cases registered in Mangalore and other parts of Karnataka.

Raja ran an extortion racket sitting in different countries abroad. An Interpol Red Corner Notice had been issued for his arrest after his role was detected in dozens of attempts to extort money from businessmen in India as well as the daylight killing of a businessman-politician R N Nayak in Karwar in 2013. The Mangalore police commissioner S Murugan said the police were yet to decide on the course of action to extradite Raja and bring him to trial for his crimes in India.

In October 2009 Bannanje Raja had been detained in the UAE by local authorities but was not extradited to India. According to police sources the gangster managed to dodge the extradition by getting a local cheque bounce case filed against himself resulting in UAE authorities holding him for prosecution in the cheque case.

Raja alias RK alias Rajendra Kumar hails from Dakshina Kannada in coastal Karnataka. Investigations in the past of extortion calls made by Raja has shown that the gangster uses VOIP calls and cloned SIM cards to prevent police from tracking him down through the calls.

Raja is a long time associate of Muthappa Rai, a former underworld operative, who was arrested in Dubai and extradited to India in 2001. Rai was subsequently exonerated in all cases against him. Raja and Rai were co-accused in a 1997 murder of a rival.

Raja is wanted in as many as 23 crimes in Mangalore in coastal Karnataka, dating back to the early 1990s and through to 2007.

He is also wanted in 11 cases in Bangalore including murders in 1997 and an armed extortion bid in 1998.