Less than 10 days after the sensational murder of Karopady Gram Panchayat vice president Abdul Jaleel Karopady on April 20, district police have succeeded in cracking the case.

IGP (Western range) P Harishekaran told media on Saturday that 11 suspects have been arrested in the case: Rajesh Nayak, a resident of Bethamane Mittanadka near Karopady, and his accomplices Narasimha Shetty, Prajwal, Pushparaj, Sachin, Roshan, Satish Rai, Puneeth, Keshav, Prashanth and Vachan. The first two were arrested in Udupi on Saturday and revealed the murder mystery, leading to the arrest of others in the case. Among the suspects, Rajesh, Narasimha and Satish have criminal antecedents with rowdy sheets opened against them in Vittal station years ago. Rajesh owns a shamiyana shop at Kana.

Elaborating on the motive, IGP said that there were two motives – both political and personal, with underworld fugitive Vikky Shetty hatching the murder conspiracy. Rajesh Nayak, the main suspect in the case, was fuming against Jaleel for three cases registered against him at Vittal station. In one of the cases, Rajesh and his friends had been assaulted by three others, but the former was booked under SC, ST (Prevention of atrocities) Act. Rajesh was under the belief that Jaleel was behind all these cases. Moreover, six years ago, Jaleel had tipped off the police when Rajesh was smuggling timber from the forest, eventually leading to his arrest.

On the other hand, Jaleel had earned the wrath of Vikky Shetty for pipping Shetty’s cousin brother Dinesh Shetty to become vice president of Karopady GP. Dinesh Shetty, the sitting GP member, had aspired to become the vice president soon after the general elections in 2015, but Jaleel made it to the seat.

Moreover whenever there were debates on key issues at the panchayat, both Dinesh and Jaleel were at loggerheads. Dinesh often complained to Vikky over telephone about Jaleel turning into a major hurdle in his works. To get rid of Jaleel, Vikky who found a common enemy of the former in Rajesh, instigated Rajesh to finish off Jaleel.

The IGP said that the conspiracy was in the making for the past three years according to internet-based voice calls between Vikky and Rajesh. Vikky, who had made hundreds of such calls, had promised both logistical and monetary support to Rajesh to eliminate Jaleel.

The IGP said as the case is still under investigation, the custody of the suspects will be sought.
On the role of disgruntled GP member Dinesh Shetty in the murder case, however, the IGP said it was too early to comment, but the investigators will not hesitate to initiate action if his role emerges in future course of investigation.

The case
Abdul Jaleel Karopady had just walked into the GP office on the ill-fated day around 11.30 am, when four masked main barged into the room and attacked him with weapons. Jaleel, who had suffered a slash on his neck, besides injuries on other parts of his body, succumbed to injuries on his way to hospital.

Vittal police had registered a case.

DH News Service