From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Madikeri (EP)
Madikeri, Dec 3: Police have arrested the mastermind behind the robbery and assault in the house of Hosappattana businessman H B Shivakumar, which took place on November 24.
The arrested alleged mastermind has been identified as auto driver Krishna, a resident of Mangaladevinagar here. Four of the accused were arrested a day after the incident.
The operation to nab the remaining three accused is on. The information was disclosed by SP Rajendra Prasad in a press conference here on Friday, December 2.
The SP said that Krishna had spent a prison term in a robbery case in the past. He has been driving his auto rickshaw in Madikeri for a living. As the auto met with an accident, he had borrowed Rs 50,000 for its repairs and another Rs 1.5 lac for other expenses from a person named Sharif.
As Sharif was pressing him to repay the loan, he remembered his friend, surveyor Vijayakumar who had spoken about Shivakumar's wealth. Krishna told Sharif that stealing from Shivakumar's house will solve their money problems. Thereafter, both of them prepared a sketch for the robbery. They contacted one Nizam who had formed a gang for similar misdeeds in Mangaluru, the SP said.
The group went to Hosapattana on November 24 as planned and hid in the coffee plantations from 5 am. As Shivakumar opened the door for his brother Vishwanath, the waiting gang barged into the house, assaulted both of them and robbed their cash and valuables.
Krishna and Sharif had hidden the bag containing the stolen cash and jewellery in the coffee estate's drain and gone absconding. However, as Krishna came back on Thursday December 1 to retrieve the bag, he was caught by the police who were on the lookout for him in the area. He then showed the police the spot where he had hidden the bag, and it was recovered.
Madikeri resident Sharif, Saliat from Dakshina Kannada and Nizam in whose car the robbers had arrived, are still at large. Nizam had driven the car on the day of the robbery. A search is on to nab them, said Rajendra Prasad.
DySP Sampath Kumar, circle inspector Khyathe Gowda, crime division cirlce inspector M Mahesh, rural police station inspector J E Mahesh and town police station's Jagadish were present in the press meet.