Journalist ‘masterminds’ robbery disguised as IT raid at realtor’s house

A Kannada journalist and four real-estate brokers ganged up to rob a deceased realtor’s family by posing as income-tax officials last week, police said.

Manjunath, a sub-editor at a little-known tabloid called Aarakshaka Suddi, is said to be the mastermind of a robbery that took place at the house of a realtor named Ramesh in RMV 2nd Stage, North Bengaluru, on the morning of January 23.

Ramesh had died of ill health a year ago, leaving behind significant real estate in and around Sanjayanagar, which generates lakhs of rupees in monthly income for his family. The brokers not only knew about the properties but were also privy to the monthly income. They were certain that the family keeps substantial amounts of cash at home and decided to rob it.

While the idea of robbery was mooted by the brokers, it was the journalist who put two and two together, working out the plan and carrying out the execution.

Two of the brokers, Syed Mohammed Rabbani and Prashanth alias Jayanth, posed as income-tax officers and barged into the house. Showing fake ID cards, they claimed to be raiding the house to determine the source of the family’s wealth.

At the time of the incident, Ramesh’s mother, wife, daughter and son were home.

The duo then set out to ransack the house, eventually taking away Rs 3.5 lakh in cash and two air guns from a room. They left at 9.45 am.

It took the stunned family a while and some inquiries to figure out that the raid was fake. Ramesh’s son, Chetan R, 22, a law student, subsequently filed a complaint at the Sanjaynagar police station.

During the course of the investigation, Sanjayanagar police inspector Balaraj J and his team learnt that the robbery was plotted by a total of five people. They also found out about the journalist’s involvement.

Police managed to catch Manjunath, Rabbani, Prashanth and two other members of the gang, Kumar and Dharmesh alias Rudresh. So far, police have been able to recover Rs 1.7 lakh, the air guns, a car and a fake ID card of the income-tax department. Efforts are underway to retrieve the remaining cash.

As for the air guns found in Ramesh’s house, police have sent them for a forensic examination. They have learnt that the deceased did have a firearms licence.

Police suspect that the gang members had committed a similar robbery some months ago and are questioning them to dig out information.

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