Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)

Puttur, May 9: A gang of nomads who earn their livelihoods by conducting home to home visits and making astrological predictions based on lines on palms or cards picked by parrots, stands arrested. These people are characterized by their unique clothing, headgear, and speaking style, and also a rattle which they carry with them and use it to give magical background effect to their predictions which are given in the style of verses.

The gang was arrested by Uppinangady police, when the its members were found seated in a Maruti Omni car at Uppinangady bypass road on national highway 75 on Friday May 8. The police found that the gang, which was equipped with lethal weapons, had come from Hassan district with the specific plan of robbing people. A team of policemen led by Uppinangady police sub-inspector, Jagadish Reddy, made the arrests.

The policemen found that the members of this gang used to move around Belur, Hagare, and Arasikere in Hassan district, as well as Krishnapura and Suratkal in Dakshina Kannada district, and earn a living by making predictions about people's future against a small fee. The gang members have a history of thefts, and many of them had been arrested for thefts including daylight thefts and released from jail after their terms ended. They had come together for indulging in a major crime, the policemen suspect.

The gang had in its possession two swords, two iron rods, two cell phones, Rs 8,100 in cash, and Omni car, all of which were confiscated. The police learnt that the gang was formed under the instructions of Mahesh alias Mada from Angadihalli in Belur taluk, who currently lives near Uppinangady Harinagar now.

On being produced in the court here, they were remanded to judicial custody. The arrested accused have been identified as Mahesh alias Mada from Uppinangady, Devaraj from Krishnapura, Ramesh from Alevoor, Venkatesh from Bengaluru, Nagaraj from Suratkal, Prakash, a native of Angadihalli, Manikanta from Bengaluru, Kaverappa from Arasikere, and Manjunath from Suratkal. A case was registered in Uppinangady station against all of them.