Bengaluru's Karachi Bakery receives threat call, warned of dire consequences

BENGALURU: A man claiming to be underworld operative Vicky Shetty reportedly called an employee of

Karachi Bakery

's Indiranagar outlet on Monday and warned him of dire consequences if the word 'Karachi' is not removed from the name board.

"Remove it or else our boys will destroy everything," the caller reportedly said. The warning comes after a few local activists protested the use of the word 'Karachi' by the bakery in its name. The protests had taken place following the Pulwama terror attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

Indiranagar police have registered a case of criminal intimidation by anonymous communication under Section 507 of IPC and a team has been formed to trace the caller.

According to police, Karachi Bakery's manager Sukumar P received a call on his mobile phone around 1pm. The caller introduced himself as Vicky Shetty, before enquiring whether the receiver was the owner of bakery. "I told him I wasn't the owner. He then told me to inform my owner to remove 'Karachi' from the name board as no one in India was using that name," said Sukumar. "The caller warned that we must remove the word within 24 hours or else his boys would destroy the bakery," he added.

On Monday, Indiranagar police filed a non-cognizable (NCR) offence and later registered a case of criminal intimidation after they obtained court permission. Preliminary probe revealed the miscreant used Voice over

Internet Protocol

(VoIP) to hide the call location.

Rahulkumar Shahapurwad, deputy commissioner of police (east division), said they are verifying if the call was actually made by Vicky Shetty or someone else. Earlier, Indiranagar police had arrested nine persons for ransacking the same outlet on February 22. They were later released on bail.

Vicky Shetty is an underworld criminal facing dozens of cases, including murder and criminal conspiracy, in Dakshina Kannada district and Mangaluru city police limits. Police sources claimed Vicky had fled India several years ago. He allegedly ran criminal activities in coastal Karnataka through his associates. Last year, Dakshina Kannada district police arrested his associates in connection with the murder of Abdul Jaleel Karopadi, vice-president of a gram panchayat in Bantwal taluk. Police claimed Vicky was the main person behind Jaleel's elimination on April 20, 2017 over political and personal rivalry.