Pics: Ramesh Pandith / Yashodhara Bangera
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)
Mangaluru, Oct 20: The police have arrested four more persons directly involved in the murder of flower vendor and Bajrang Dal activist Prashant Poojary in Moodbidri.
The arrested are Mohammed Sharif (42), a resident of Todar, Mustafa Kavoor (28), Mohammed Mustafa (25) of Kinnipadavu, Bajpe and Kabeer (28) of Kaikamba.
Addressing a press meet at his office here on Tuesday October 20, city police commissioner S Murugan said that these four along with Haneef, who was arrested earlier, were directly involved in the crime.
He also said that there are a few more accused and police are in search of them.
Regarding messages circulating in WhatsApp and other social media regarding Prashant's murder, he said, "There are astonishing rumours circulating in social media. Mangaluru is a sensitive area and no one should give any importance to such messages. Law and order is stable in the city and police are taking proper action. A few miscreants are involved in this and police are tracking them down. People should ignore such messages on social media. There is no cause for fear. If people come across anything suspicious, they should inform the police directly."
Asked if the accused in the Prashant murder case belong to any outfit or organization as alleged by some, the police commissioner said, "We have no proof of their allegiance to any outfit. The murder happened mainly because Prashant Poojary used to disturb them regarding cattle trafficking."
CCB police arrest four
The police commissioner also informed that the city crime branch (CCB) police have arrested four persons who were involved in various thefts in Mangaluru and DK police limits.
The arrested are Mohammed Rafiq (26), a resident of BC Road, Afrim Shiyad (19) of Farangipete, Kaushik Nihal (19), a resident of Valachil, and Umar Farooq Irfan (19) of Katipalla.
They were involved in various crimes like chain snatching, bike thefts, temple thefts, theft of idols from Jain Basadi and Daivastana, areca thefts etc, the commissioner said.
The CCB police also recovered gold chains worth Rs 6 lac, a mobile phone and 11 bikes worth Rs 9 lac, altogether worth 15 lac from the accused.
The accused were involved in thefts at Bantwal, Konaje Somanath Temple, Jain Basadi at Venur, Karangalpady, Pumpwell, Kavoor, Bondel, and other places.
On October 20, the police received information that the accused had snatched a chain from the neck of a woman and were coming to Mangaluru from BC Road. The CCB police led by inspector Valentine D'Souza then arrested the four near Valachil.
The accused used to snatch chains from women on the pretext of asking for directions. Despite several such incidents and efforts by police to nab the chain snatchers, the incidents continued to be reported in places like Kavoor, Shivbagh, Kadri, Hampankatta, Ullal and other places over a period of 7 months or so.
The accused would use bikes like Bajaj Pulsar, Yamaha and Hero Honda either with fake number plates or without them. They stole 11 bikes from various places like Suratkal, Ullal and so on and used them for committing crimes, the police commissioner said.
He further said that some more of their accomplices are absconding and will be arrested soon.
To a question on the progress regarding the recent case of child pornography on Twitter, Murugan said that he had been to Bengaluru to complain to the cyber cell there. "The Bengaluru cyber cell is investigating the case. It is not so easy as they (Twitter) may not bother about what is happening in Mangaluru," he said.