Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)
Mangaluru, Nov 6: The case of an employee of a jewellery shop in the city, who complained to the police that he was abducted near Ladyhill in the city after alighting from the Mumbai bus and was looted to the tune of Rs 15 lac, has taken a new turn. The police have successfully cracked the case.
Though the complainant had filed a case with the police that Rs 15 lac was looted by the abductors, the police have recovered Rs 1.75 crore from the arrested accused and this has made the police to point fingers at the employee and owner of the jewellery shop who are connected to this case.
Police have got the clue that the total amount of this transaction was Rs 2.35 crore and not Rs 15 lac as mentioned by the complainant. The police have decided to inform the matter to the Income Tax (IT) department of the city also as such a huge unaccounted cash is found in this incident.
New twist
When the police grilled the arrested people, to their utter dismay, the case took a new unexpected turn. Manjunath Ganapati Palankar, the complainant had said that only Rs 15 lac and a mobile phone is looted by the robbers. In addition, though the abduction took place on October 23, the complaint was filed on October 26, which also made the police to dig deep and look this case from another angle.
When the police conducted an investigation of the two people who are arrested, they informed the police that there was an amount of Rs 2.35 crore in the bag which Manjunath was carrying. The arrested accused have also said that there are four more accomplices in this crime who have taken an amount of Rs 60 lac with them. The police are searching for the four culprits who are absconding.
Similarities to infamous Target Group
T R Suresh, police commissioner said that prima facie the deal seems to be in the lines of the infamous Target Group that was cracked and arrested by the police some time ago. The 1.75 crore cash that is confiscated from the arrested contains 7,250 notes of Rs 2000 (1.45 crore) face value and 6,000 notes of Rs 500 (Rs 30 lac).
Money belongs to owner of Jewellery shop
Giving the details of the confiscated amount, Police commissioner T R Suresh said, "The amount that is confiscated belongs to Santhosh, owner of Vaishnavi Jewellery of Car Street in the city. Vaishnavi Jewellers has a branch in Mumbai also. The owner has recruited certain individuals to carry the gold to Mumbai and bring the cash from there. Manjunath Ganapati Palankar, the complainant is also one of them. The arrested accused who got definite information that Manjunath was carrying huge cash waited for him at Ladyhill in the city and looted the money."
Income tax department to be informed
"The inquiry of this mode of business done by Vaishnavi Jewellers will continue. It has to be known whether this dealing done by Vaishnavi Jewellers is authorized or illegal. There is also a suspicion that how Manjunath did not know the amount of cash he was carrying. So the IT department will be appraised of the whole transaction.
Details of arrested
Abdul Mannan (29), a resident of K B Road, Talapady, near B C Road and Razi (26), a resident of nearby area of Alape bus stand, Padil are the arrested looters. Abdul Mannan is a old habitual criminal who has got seven cases on him at Ullal police station and one case registered at Konaje police station. Out of this three are murder cases.