Cops thwart advocate's kidnap, ransom for murder

MANGALORE: D K district police, which gained a toehold in its fight against the underworld with the arrest of D company hitman Rashid Malbari in March, have tightened the screws on the underworld further. This has come in the form of them thwarting an attempt to abduct a city advocate for ransom and murder by the District Crime Intelligence Bureau team led by police inspector H N Venkatesh Prasanna minutes before it could be executed.
A gang of nine working for underworld gangster Koraga Vishwanath Shetty were nabbed on Saturday along with a 9mm pistol, 10 live rounds, a bike, car, autorickshaw, eight mobile phones and several sharp-edged weapons.The accused are Anish Shetty, Harish alias Cocaine Harish, Deekshit Poojari, Deepak Poojari, Aneesh Leepak Lasrado, Ajay Karera, Ganesh, Nawaz and Lokesh Devadiga. Barring the first two, the rest are first timers.
Gopal B Hosur, IGP (Western Range) giving details of these arrests told reporters here on Sunday that on June 20, Mangalore East Police station received a complaint from an advocate in the city, that a group of three youngsters came to his office at Bunts Hostel and threatened him at gun point demanding extortion money, failing which he would be kidnapped by the same evening and even murdered if their demands were not met.
On a complaint from the advocate, police registered a case under Sections 448, 504, 506 read with 34 IPC and Sections 25 and 27 of Arms Act. A team was formed under Prasanna to nab the culprits, which zeroed in on a gang working for Shetty here. On definite information that the gang was proceeding towards the city to the advocate's office, the team intercepted a car at Karangalpadi and nabbed five persons in it.
The accused in the car __ Anish, Harish, Deekshit, Deepak and Aneesh __ on questioning confessed to proceeding towards the advocate's office to abduct him to a secret location at Kambalapadavu near Konaje. On conducting a personal search, police recovered a 9 mm pistol along with seven rounds and three sharp weapons. On interrogation they revealed that 4 more gang members were at a secret location in Konaje.
The accused told the police that they had kept three more live rounds and a few sharp weapons at that location. They also revealed that they were under instructions from Shetty, who stays in a Gulf, to carry out this operation. The team immediately proceeded to the location mentioned by them and arrested the others and seized three live rounds, two sharp weapons, bike, mobile phones and autorickshaw from the spot.
Among those arrested, Harish is involved in five cases of hurt, rioting and Arms Act in Madikeri town, Brahmavara and Puttur rural PS Limits, and Anish in 2 cases of fake DD and kidnap in Mangalore city. Hosur said police would seek custody of the accused for further interrogation of why the advocate was targeted and other details on the main gangster Koraga Vishwanath Shetty and his other gang members and targets.
Referring to arrests made by Bangalore city police of members of another gang working for underworld gangster Bannanje Raja and Ravi Poojari a few days back, Hosur said district police are in the process of getting custody of that gang, including Harish Tolar for further investigations into cases related to that gang in the city. Hosur appreciating the work done by the DCIB team gave them a reward of Rs 25,000 for the effort.