Notorious inter-district dacoit gang busted; 9 arrested

A gang of inter-district dacoits was busted and nine men involved in dacoity, robbery cases were arrested on Friday.

With their arrest, police had cracked as many as 12 cases committed by them in different parts of the state including in Moodbidri, Bajpe, and Mulki police station limits. Police seized vehicles, valuables worth Rs 32.22 lakh from the dacoits, Mangaluru Commissioner of Police N Shashi Kumar told mediapersons at Commissioners hall on Saturday.

The seized properties included one MUV, two cars, one autorickshaw, 11 mobile phones, four two-wheelers, one air gun, 250 grams gold ornaments, two talwar, one iron rod, one iron lever, knife, chilly powder packet and wooden sticks. The arrested men were identified as Ravoof, Ramamurthy, Ashraf, Santhosh, Siddiq, Suman, Ramananda Shetty, Alokoya and Naveed.

They would hire a vehicle and then project it as being stolen. By changing the nameplate of the vehicle, they used to commit dacoity, robbery, HBTs (House Break-in and Theft). After committing the offence, they used to flee with the vehicle. As they were in desperate need of money, they carried out series of offences in three police station jurisdictions, the Commissioner said.

During interrogation, the men had revealed that after Covid-19 induced lockdown, they could not carry out HBTs as before. Inmates often stayed at home. The Commissioner said some of the accused men were ganja addicts and led a lavish lifestyle by visiting different tourist destinations. The majority of members in the gang were working as drivers, arranging visas for those who wish to travel abroad.

The gang also had stolen a licensed revolver during a theft at a house in Arehalli and the revolver is yet to be seized. The airgun which was seized was stolen from a house in Poonjalkatte police station jurisdiction, explained the Commissioner. The arrested confessed to committing crimes in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, and Shivamogga districts.

In fact, they had also carried out robbery cases in estates, godowns, in Bhadravathi, Shikaripura and Sagar, suspecting that black money was stashed in godowns. The arrested were also involved in dacoity cases reported at Moodbidri, Karkala, Uppinangady, HBTs in Arehalli, Poonjalkatte and Vijayanagara police station jurisdiction last year. Four prime accused along with more than 20 people are yet to be arrested by the police. They would have taken part in more than 15 to 20 more cases.