Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (MB)
Pics RK Durga Digitals
Udupi, Feb 27: The case of missing gold trader from Salem, Tamil Nadu since May 2006 has been solved with the arrest of Ganesh Bhakta, the one of two brothers suspected to be behind the murder. They own two gold shops, one near Hanuman garage in Chitpadi here and another in Nittoor, Udyavar.
Jagannath, the gold trader from Tamil Nadu, had arrived in Udupi in May 2006. He had regular dealings with the Bhakta brother duo, Ganesh and Vasant. Jagannath had all of a sudden gone missing from May 20 from the Kanakadas lodge where he stayed.
Upon a complaint about his having gone missing from his wife, the police began investigating. The plot thickened when the Bhakta brothers too vanished arond the end of May, 2006. Since their dealings with the missing gold trader were too well known, and since they too were missing, the police spread a dragnet for them. Finally, the lead took them to Goa, where one of the brother, Ganesh Bhakta, was arrested on Monday and brought to Udupi.
Upon intrerrogration, Ganesh Bhakta, is said to have confessed to the murder of Jagannath by him and his brother Vasant. He also revealed that after murdering Jagannath, they had dumped his body in a septic tank of a toilet near Hanuman garage. The soon after, they went missing.
After there are reports in the media that both the brothers have been arrested, police sources told daiijiworld that Vasant Bhakta was still at large and they expressed the hopes that he too would nabbed soon. The sources further said there could be two motives for the murder. The brothers had realized that Jagannath had a large stock of gold with him during the visit and they allegedly murdered him for the sake of the booty. The second angle the police are looking at either they owed large amounts to him in gold trade or he owed them large amounts. This could have led to the murder, the police sources suspect.
The decomposed remains of Jagannath's body was retrieved by the police from the septic tank. A post mortem of the remains will be held soon, said the sources.