Bangalore: Missing Diamond Merchant Found Murdered, Three Nabbed
Bangalore, Feb 9 (PTI): The diamond merchant from Vishakhapatnam, reported missing after he arrived here on February 6, was found murdered and three persons have been arrested in this connection, a top police official said today.
The three, all drivers working for a private taxi firm here, had murdered Manoj Kumar Gandhi and thrown his body at Charmadi Ghat in Chikmagalur district,City Police Commissioner Jyothiprakash Mirji told the press here today.
45 year-old Manoj, Chairman of the Vishakhapatnam-based Vaibhav Group of Companies which is into jewellery and property development, had arrived here with three leather bags of jewellery, to be taken to Mumbai to be used for shooting a promotional campaign for their jewellery stores.
He had hired a car from the private taxi firm and went around famous jewellery outlets in Bangalore to buy some more jewellery and also visited a jewellery exhibition.
He had told the driver Ravi Kumar to keep a watch on his bags but Ravi Kumar opened them and found the jewellery and informed his two friends-- Shivakumar and Krishnegowda. The three then hatched a plan to murder him and decamp with the jewellery.
On their way to the airport in the early hours,Kumar had stopped the car saying there was some problem and the other two had got in after threatening the merchant at knifepoint. They then strangled him with a towel and then proceeded to Hebbal flyover, where they shifted his body to another car.
Kumar then drove to the airport, made an entry and informed his office that he had dropped Manoj as scheduled at the airport.
However, discrepancies were found in his replies when he was detained for questioning, Mirji said. Kumar also disclosed the houses of his relatives where the other two accomplices had hidden the jewellery and the spot where the body had been disposed of, he said.
The police team then recovered the jewellery approximately worth about Rs three crore, Mirji said, adding, the three were arrested yesterday.