Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (PS/UM)
Udupi, Jan 31: In a breakthrough in two cases, the police have arrested a person, said to be an activist of Hindu Jagarana Vedike (HJV), in connection to the stabbing of two auto rickshaw drivers, in which one was killed, and pelting of stones on a mosque the same night.
Reliable sources said that he has been identified as Ankit Poojary from Kumpala, Mangaluru, aged between 26 and 29 years of age. It is said that the accused had come to Pandubettu to visit his wife's parental house on the night of the crime.
Sources said that he is a member of Vittal unit of Hindu Jagarana Vedike and faces charges in a number of communal cases in Vittal.
File Photos
On the night of January 29, he stabbed auto rickshaw driver Hanif, a resident of Doddanagudde, after alleging that the latter had driven on the wrong side of the road. It is alleged that the accused was in a state of drunken stupor and had picked a fight with Hanif. He then brandished a knife and stabbed Hanif to death. Hanif's relative Shabbir, who is also an auto rickshaw driver, came to his rescue, but the accused stabbed him too and fled the spot.
Thereafter, the accused proceeded to Pandubettu, and on the way, when he passed by a mosque, he stopped and pelted stones at it, sources said. The incident was captured in the CCTV.
The police who took up the investigation formed five teams, and based on the CCTV images and other leads, succeeded in arresting the accused in connection to both the cases.