Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)
Mangaluru, Jul 31: The police have arrested eight persons in connection to the honeytrap case in Beltangady wherein a woman was used by a gang to kidnap, blackmail, threaten and extort money from two men.
The gang had trapped Abdul Basheer by asking him through one of his friends to pick up a lady and drop her off at Ujire, and then intercepting the auto rickshaw. The gang had forced him to pose for photographs with the woman, and then threatened to create problems for him with the help of photos and video they had captured. Basheer was taken to a secluded place and beaten up and an extortion bid for Rs 10 lac was also made.
Addressing a press meet here on Friday July 31, SP Dr Sharanappa said that in connection with the case, the police led by ASP Rahul Kumar have arrested prime accused Mohammed Asif alias Asif of Goliangady (25), Abdul Lathif alias Abdulla (36) of Goliangady, Sabir (25) of Maddadka, Abubakker Siddique (21) of Kukkedi, Sulaiman (35) of Padangady, Abdul Majeed (22) of Nelligudde, Hashim (25) of Kukkedi and Zarina (27) of Nekkilu.
Four others were involved in the case, and police will arrest them soon, the SP said.
Narrating the incident, the SP said that on July 27, at around 5.30 pm, Asif, the prime accused had called up Basheer on his cell phone while latter was returning from Loretto Padavu by auto rickshaw, and asked him to pick up a lady on the way and drop her at Ujired.
Basheer obliged, and picked a burkha-clad lady, now identified as Zarina and was taking her to Ujire in the auto rickshaw, when two cars, a Ritz and a Scorpio, followed the auto rickshaw and intercepted it. Basheer and Harris, the auto driver, were then forcibly taken to a secluded spot in one of the cars and assaulted. The gang then made them pose with the woman and took photographs and demanded Rs 10 lac and threatened to circulate the photos on WhatsApp and file a rape case if their demand was not met. Basheer and Harris were then taken to a house in Nainad near Venur. The gang robbed the two of Rs 4,500 cash, two mobile handsets, the auto rickshaw and Basheer's passport.
Basheer later filed a complaint with the Beltangady police, and a special investigation team was formed under the leadership of ASP Rahul Kumar and Beltangady inspector Lingappa Poojary. The police succeeded in arresting the eight and search for four others is on.
The SP also said that the arrested eight have no previous record of crime, and that the accused woman Zarina's husband was not involved in the case. He also said that one of the accused, Abdul Lathif has posed sub-inspector of crime.
Regarding another case in Beltangady wherein a Dalit named Sundar Malekudiya's fingers were chopped off allegedly by his landlord, the SP said that the matter has been taken up seriously and one person has already been arrested, and further investigations are on.
On the murder case of Jayanand in Subramanya, allegedly by his wife and her paramour, the SP said that during investigation it was learnt that the deceased man's wife Lalitha had been involved in his murder. "She was in close contact with the accused Dhananjay. She was not happy with her husband Jayanand. Dhananjay gave a 'supari' of Rs 65,000 to another accused Chandrakant to kill Jayanand. When Jayanand left from his house, his wife informed Dhananjay who in turn informed the contract killers. Jayanand was waylaid, killed and his body hid in a forest.
The police who took up the investigation arrested Chandrakant, who revealed the entire matter during interrogation. Altogether five have been arrested in the case - Lalita, Dhananjay Dinesh Poojary, Chandrakant and Chintan. A failed attempt in the form of an accident was also made to kill Jayanand earlier, but it failed," the SP said.
ASP Rahul Kumar was present at the press meet.