African national is yet to be identified, bike owner traced

BENGALURU: The identity of the African national, who died under mysterious circumstances during a police operation in north Bengaluru on Sunday night, is yet to be established. Spokesmen for the African community had initially claimed that the man was a Nigerian national,

Ifeanyi Madu

alias NWA Jesus. But police said the claim has not been conclusively established.

Ascertaining the man's identity is crucial to probe allegations that he may have been murdered, police said.

Meanwhile, the owner of the scooter from which the man fell off has been identified. The man in whose name is the Honda Dio vehicle (KA 05-HD-8730) is registered is the second owner. Police are yet to trace the first and the original buyer of the vehicle.

“The vehicle is in the name of

GM Mujahid

, son of Mehaboob Sherif, # 6, III Street, Pension Mohalla, Broad Road Cross, Shivajinagar. But he is the second buyer of the vehicle and our team knocked the doors on Tuesday noon only to find some other persons residing there,“ police said.

The cellphone found at the spot belongs to a slum dweller.The number is registered in the name of Vijay Kumar. But no other details are available.The post-mortem is yet to be conducted as it can happen only after identifying the body and getting consent from his friends or relatives, police said.

While police claimed that the man fell off the pillion of the scooter and died when they were waiting to conduct a drug bust on Kothanur-Avalahalli Road, the African community members are claiming that he was seen with plainclothesmen hours earlier on Sunday in the area.

“A team of police officials is working with FRRO (For eigners Regional Registration Office). The officials from African communities gave some names but they are not matching,“ a senior officer said.

“Since Monday, we have scanned more than 400 visas but they did not match the dead man. Without identifying the body , we cannot make fur ther statements.“

K N

Yashavanth Kumar

, inspector, women and narcotic cell of the

Central Crime Branch

(CCB), had in his complaint said his team was on Kothanur-Avalahalli Road expecting to conduct a drug bust when the accident occurred.The team had left the office around 7.30pm and was waiting at the spot. Around 12.10am (Monday), two persons riding a scooter passed and returned, making a U-turn; suddenly the rider tried speeding with the intention of running away . The rider lost control, and the pillion-rider was tossed from the bike. The rider left him behind and escaped.

CCB team took the victim to Bowring and

Lady Curzon Hospital

in Shivajinagar where doctors declared him as “dead on arrival.“

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