A Congress leader and former mayor was on Tuesday arrested in connection with rioting that left a party MLA’s house gutted and four dead in August.

The arrest of Sampath Raj, an influential councillor, ended a two-week hunt that followed his escape from a private hospital where he had been treated for Covid-19.

Raj has been named in the chargesheet on the August 11 violence that rocked parts of Bangalore over an offensive Facebook post by the nephew of Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy.

Murthy had then claimed he had nothing to do with his nephew P. Naveen, who was arrested over the post. Naveen is believed to have Hindu Right-wing leanings, apparently the reason why Murthy distanced himself from his nephew.

Four youths, alleged to be among the rioters, were killed when police opened fire at a mob that attacked a police station in an eastern neighbourhood of the city.

The rioters had burned down Murthy’s house and attacked the DJ Halli and KG Halli police stations in a pitched street battle with riot cops.

While the police had rounded up more than 150 suspects, Murthy had maintained that some of his own party colleagues had masterminded the attack to capitalise on a political rivalry.

Raj gave the slip on October 30 after spending nearly a month in the private hospital where he was treated for Covid.

The police later arrested his aide, Riyazuddin, and councillor A.R. Zakeer who had helped Raj escape from the hospital and hide at Nagarhole in Mysore district.

The delay in arresting Raj had led a city-based lawyer to Karnataka High Court, which had on Friday sought an action-taken report and ordered the police to trace the absconding councillor at the earliest.

The chargesheet had alleged that political rivalry between Murthy and Raj had led to the rioting. It had cited a conspiracy involving Raj and his supporters who instigated youths in the area to resort to violence and target Murthy’s house.

The rivalry between Raj and Murthy started after the latter switched to the Congress from the Janata Dal Secular and went on to bag a party ticket to contest the 2018 Assembly polls from Pulakeshinagar in the city.

The party had then favoured Murthy over Raj who had risen up the Congress ranks and boasted of a huge following. Murthy had told the police about the enmity and how Raj had been trying to damage his political career.

Soon after Raj’s arrest, Murthy told reporters that he just wanted the guilty to be punished. “I have been pleading for justice for over three months (since the arson attack). Punish whoever is guilty of the crime,” the MLA said.

Murthy said he would meet state Congress president D.K. Shivakumar and leader of the Opposition P.C. Siddaramaiah on Tuesday to once again brief them about why he was seeking action against Raj.

Shivakumar urged his partymen to respect the law and not do anything to mar peace.

“Everyone should respect the law. I am for those who are on the right side of the law,” he said when reporters sought his comment on the arrest.

Siddaramaiah observed that it would not matter if the arrested person was from his party. “It’s not important who is from which party. Nobody is above the law. He has to face the law if he has done anything wrong,” the former chief minister said.