Daijiworld News Network - Kundapur (GA)

Kundapur, Oct 17: Jayaprakash Shetty, a young man from Kodladi near here who had gone missing mysteriously from Friday October 13, has now been found murdered and his body was found in Kubja River near Mardi Bridge here on Monday October 16. The police sources said that he has been murdered by his friends with in connection with the sandalwood smuggling issue.

Jayaprakash (30) was shot in the back by two of his friends and thereafter thrown into the river.  They had tied a big stone round his body so that the body did not float on the surface.  The police have arrested Devraj and Srinivas in this regard.  Involvement of more persons is suspected.

Jayaprakash Shetty, son of Jagannath Shetty of Narumakki near Kodladi had gone missing from his wife's house at Nadumane.  He had received a call late in the night as per which he had gone out from his house riding his mobike.  But he had not come back thereafter.  His family members had lodged a complaint with the Shankarnarayana police in this regard.

The police had immediately got into their job.  As a result they found his mobike at Korabail near Karkunje on Saturday October 14.  The police found some blood stains on the bike which made them believe that all was not well with Jayaprakash.  A deeper enquiry revealed that two persons had accompanied Jayaprakash on his mobike when he had left a bar at Neralakatte on Friday late night.

In this connection police arrested Devraj and Srinivas who in turn spilled the beans without much effort.  They revealed that they had accompanied Jayaprakash on Friday night.  After their visit to the bar, they had asked Jayaprakash to accompany them for poaching.  Accordingly, all three of them went on former's bike.  While Jayaprakash rode the bike, two others rode pillion.  On their way they also took a country-made gun for poaching.  But as they neared the place, they shot Jayaprakash with the gun.  Later they tied a stone round his body and threw it in the river which was traced on Monday.

The police sources said that Jayaprakash was involved in several sandalwood smuggling cases while the arrested too had several similar cases against their name.  So business rivalry is said to have resulted in the murder of Jayaprakash.