DCIB Foils Extortion Racket, Arrests Eight Associates of Ravi Poojary
 
Pics: Sphoorty Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (RS/CN)    
  
Mangalore, Feb 16: “The police team led by the District Intelligence and Crime Bureau (DCIB), arrested eight members of Ravi Poojary’s gang for trying to extort Rs 5 crore from a city businessman and threatening to kill him if he failed to pay up”, said Gopal Hosur, inspector general of police (western range), on Tuesday February 16, in a press meet. 
 
“The DCIB police team has done a good job of tracking anti-social elements who would have threatened the normal life of citizens in the city with their plan of killing the businessman”, he said.

“The DCIB team also seized four .38 caliber revolvers along with 29 rounds of ammunition as well as Rs 52,000 in cash, one car, two motorcycles, and eight mobile phones”, said Hosur .
 
The arrested are Prashanth Shetty (32), resident of Ambalapady in Udupi, Vamanjoor residents Sathish Shetty (35), Sudheer Poojary (22), Yathish Poojary (22), Praveen Carlo (22), and Amith Karkera (24), as well as Sahaul Hameed (26), resident of Maripalla.

“Mahadevaiah, a canteen worker of Mysore Jail, was arrested after obtaining information from these men. He had assisted in the conspiracy. Another main conspirator in this case, Dinesh Amin, who is already in jail as an under trial in the murder of advocate Naushad Khashiji, will be taken into custody for investigation after the warrant is granted by the court”, added Hosur.
 
He further said that the weeklong operation conducted by the police team after receiving the complaint from the businessman helped them successfully nab the men near Bendoorwell. Hosur informed that the businessman had received several international calls from Ravi Poojary seeking to extort money. 
 
Superintendent of police Dr A S Rao said that the investigation of the case is still continuing and there will be more arrests soon.

Additional superintendent of police Ramesh said that the accused were involved in seizing vehicles and cautioned that the finance companies which are employing people with criminal backgrounds for this purpose should take care when employing them.

Hosur said that such companies will receive a notice about legal action. He also said that anybody who helps underworld criminals based in Gulf countries should stop such assistance or prepare to face legal action. The DCIB team was awarded Rs 50,000 in cash for their successful operation.