10 arrested for dacoity at PWD contractor’s house

Mangaluru: Mangaluru City police have arrested 10 persons in connection with the dacoity case reported at PWD contractor Padmanabha Kotiyan’s house in Ulaibettu, within the Mangaluru Rural police station limits on June 21. The accused are Balakrishna Shetty,48, from Uppala, Kasaragod; Raymond D’Souza,47, from Bantwal; Ramesh,42; Vasanth Kumar,42, of Neermarga; John Bosco alias Biju from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; Shijo Devasi,38; Sathish Babu,44; Shakir Hussain,56; Sajeesh MM, 32; and Vinoj PK from Thrissur in Kerala.
City police commissioner Anupam Agrawal told reporters on Thursday, “There was no single clue at the start. Based on descriptions and physical features provided by the victims, we began collecting details. Initially, we received information that the suspects were speaking Hindi, and had moved towards Bantwal after the crime. However, further investigation revealed this lead was to mislead police. After the theft, the suspects actually moved towards Kerala from the Talapady border,” said Agrawal.
The breakthrough in the case came primarily through human intelligence. “The house is located in an isolated area, and we realized that local support was likely. We started checking people who worked for the owners, and others associated with the area. We got leads on car movement, checked tollgates, bars, sensitive areas, and examined CCTV footage,” he said.
During a deeper investigation, it was discovered that Vasanth, a truck driver and gram panchayat member, had been working with the victim’s family for the past four years, and was familiar with the household. About eight months ago, he discussed with his friend Ramesh, that the owner had a lot of money. They repeatedly discussed the substantial amount of cash, speculated to be in crores of rupees. This information was then shared with another friend, Raymond D’Souza. They contacted Balakrishna, who, in turn, connected a team in Kerala through a mutual acquaintance, John Bosco.
A team from Kerala visited Mangaluru to inspect the house and plan the crime. Balakrishna and Raymond informed the Kerala team that there could be Rs 100 crore in cash hidden under a tile in the master bedroom.
They came equipped with bags to carry the cash. They had even had a failed attempt at a dacoity previously, Anupam said. Agrawal said that the Kerala team was even told about Rs 300 crore in the house. “This was a blind case. Given that the victim was popular, there was significant pressure,” he said. Among the accused, Vasanth, Shakeer, Sathish and John have cases lodged against them. The investigation team will be rewarded. the recovery process is ongoing, and two SUVs have been seized. Three teams led by Mangaluru Rural police inspector Shivakumar, ACP CCB Geetha Kulkarni, inspector Shyam Sundar, and another team led by ACP South Dhanya Nayak under the guidance of DCPs Sidharth Goyal and BP Dinesh Kumar, cracked the case. About four accused are yet to be arrested.