Mangalore: Double murder case - House owner's role under probe
Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (BG)
Updated
Mangalore, Jul 7: City police commissioner R Hitendra on Monday July 7 elaborated on the murder case of two Kerala smugglers and said that Nafir and Fahim, the victims, were killed in connection to gold smuggled by them.
Addressing a press meet hours after recovering the bodies of the victims from a deserted spot at Kasargod, the police commissioner said that Mohammed Mahajir Sanaf, resident of Cherkala Badiadka, Kasargod, Mohammed Irshad and Mohammed Safwan, residents of Anangoor have been arrested.
Narrating the incident, he said the deceased were agents for smuggling gold from the Gulf into the country. They had smuggled in 3 kg of gold recently, but instead of giving it to the person it was meant for, they sold 2.5 kg of it. The remaining 0.5 kg of gold has been recovered by the police, he said.
Nafir and Fahim were thus murdered in connection to this smuggled gold. They had rented a house at Attavar, belonging to a certain Nafees around 20 days back, and on July 1 they were stabbed to death. The role of the house owner in the case is under investigation, Hitendra said.
Elaborating the arrest operation, he said the people in Attavar vicinity informed the police about blood stains found near the rented house, after which one of the police informers kept a close watch. He noticed a Renault Duster vehicle moving suspiciously around the area, with blood stains on its body. The CCB police then intercepted the vehicle near a garage at Mahakali Padpu and the accused were arrested.
During interrogation, it came to light that the two bodies were tied in gunny bags and buried in a 10 cents land belonging to Safwan at Bedagam village in Kasargod. The accused were taken to the spot and the bodies were retrieved and sent to post-mortem, the commissioner said.
The police also seized the weapon and car used in committing the crime, apart from gold and other items.
Asked if the accused have any underworld connection, Hitendra said they have no such links in Karnataka, but investigation on this front is going in others states like Kerala and Goa.
He also urged owners to be careful before given their houses on rent to any stranger, and to check the prospective tenants' documents and antecedents throughly before renting out their houses.
The operation was conducted on the direction of R Hitendra, under the guidance of under the guidance of DCP (law and order) and Dr Jagadish, DCP (crime) Vishnuvardhan, and led by CCB inspector Valentine D'Souza and sub-divisional ACP of Mangalore South Pawan Nejjoor. Mangalore south inspector Dinkar Shetty, police personnel Shashidhar Shetty, Ganesh M P, Ganesh Kalladka, Venugopal, Chandrashekar, Dinesh Bekal, Rajendra Prasad, Sudhir Shetty, Abdul Jabbar, Mani M N and Tejakumar were part of the police team.
Firing at Bharati Builders office - one more arrested
The police commissioner also informed that another person has been arrested in connection with the shootout at Bharati Builders at Bejai that took place on March 10.
The accused, Vikas Balasu Chauhan was arrested from Chachegaon in Karad, Maharashtra.
Hitendra said that Vikas was a friend of Ganesh Laxman Saket who was earlier arrested in the same case, and that he was riding the motorcycle on the day of the incident.
The police have already arrested Ganesh Laxman Saket, Mukesh Shivaji Kambli, Datta alias Dattatreya Tukaram and Kamal Singh Rajput in connection to the case. One pistol, three rounds of bullets and the bike used in the crime have been recovered so far. All of them, including Vikas, have been sent to judicial custody.
Moreover, two other persons, Ganesh and Hitesh who passed on information to the accused have also been arrested and produced in the court, the commissioner said.
Earlier Report
Kasargod: Murder of smugglers - Bodies found, Mangalore CCB nab three accused
Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod
Kasargod, Jul 7: A day after the murder of two Kerala-based smugglers in Mangalore came to light, the Mangalore city crime branch (CCB) police led by inspector Valentine D'Souza investigated the spot where the bodies were buried.
Fahim (25) from Kozhikode and Nafir (24) of Thalassery in Kannur district were allegedly murdered at a lodge in Attavar, Mangalore on July 1. The incident came to light only on Sunday July 6. A day after the murder, the accused buried the bodies at a deserted spot, 5 km from the main road at Kundangui, Kasargod.
Murdered Fahim and Nafir
The CCB police arrested Munafath Munawar Sanaf (23) of Kozhikode and Anangoor residents Mohammed Irshad (22) and Mohammed Rizwan (23) in this connection. The three were taken to Kandangui by the police to identify the burial spot. The bodies, which were retrieved, were found to be tied inside gunny bags.
The police also recovered a car used by accused to bring the bodies from Mangalore to Kasargod and 3 kg of gold.
It is said that Nafir and Fahim had taken a house for rent at Attavar. On July 1, the murder reportedly took place, and on July 2, the bodies were buried. The neighbours reportedly spotted blood stains and grew suspicious about the missing duo, and informed the police.
It is suspected that Nafir and Fahim were murdered for gold. Both of them were in the Gulf for about 7 months. Sometime back, they had allegedly smuggled around 3 kg of gold into the country, and disappeared with the gold without handing it over to the person for whom it was meant. The gang involved in this smuggling then started a hunt for the evasive duo, and three accused reportedly hatched a conspiracy to kill them.
The chain of events leading to the murder are yet to be divulged.
The Mangalore CCB police on receiving information about the double murder conducted investigations in Kasargod, Thalassery and Kozhikode and succeeded in nabbing the accused.
The deceased Fahim was earlier running a readymade garments business in Mangalore and Kasargod, police said. He then went missing, and about six months ago, his family lodged a complaint in Kozhikode police station. Meanwhile, without the family's knowledge, Fahim and Nafir left for Gulf and became agents for gold smugglers.
As soon as the news spread, hundreds of curious people gathered, despite the pouring weather and the fact they had to walk about 5 km into the woods to reach the spot.