The murder of a known Rowdy sheeter and underworld element Pandu Pai on the early morning of 12-05.2009 at Kankanady Railway station has been detected and 3 accused persons along with weapons and certain items belonging to the deceased have been recovered from the accused.
In view of the sensational murder of the Rowdy sheeter two special teams were formed by DK district police under the supervision of DIGP (WR). Based on the clues obtained from the crime scene and after thorough enquiries into the recent activities of the deceased and his associates, a list of suspects was drawn. Initial clues pointed to the involvement of a close associate in the offence, based on the manner in which the murder took place. On putting a close watch on the movement of these suspects the teams were able to pick up one of them by name Rohit Poojari at Katipalla on 15-05-2009 at 5.30 am while he was at home .
He was immediately subjected to interrogation and he confessed to having been party to the offence along with four other accused by names Bijai Raja of Bijai Mangalore, Yashodhara of Katipalla, Yuvraj of Kudupadi, Udupi and Rajesh Shetty of Katipalla.
The teams immediately nabbed two of them Yuvaraj and Rajesh Shetty from Katipalla at 6 am and on subjecting them to interrogation, the teams were able to recover the following items from them., two blood stained knives, one bag belonging to Pandu, one Driving license belonging to Pandu, an ATM card, a mobile phone, Rs 4,500/- in cash and diary belonging to Pandu.
As per the confession, the initial plot to eliminate Pandu Pai was hatched by Bejai Raja on 1st of may and he informed Rohit, Yuvraj, Rajesh and and Yashodara to participate in the offence for Rs. 10,000 each initially. It was agreed upon to take Pandu Pai to Hassan and all the offenders would met up there on the night of 11-05-2009 in a hotel. As per the plan they met up in a hotel in Hassan at 10 p.m on 11-05-2009 and after having a discussion left for Mangalore via Sakleshpur as Pandu had to catch a train at Kankanadi Railway Station in the morning.
On their way back they halted at a bar in Sakleshpur at 11 pm and got Pandu fully drunk. They then further left towards Mangalore. On their way, while nearing Mangalore Rohit Strangulates Pandu with a Nylon wire from the back while Yuvraj punches him on the face. After Pandu looses consciousness, they bring him near the Kankanady Railway Station and dispose off the body there. To be doubly sure that he is dead they slit his throat with a knife and also inflicted a stab injury on his Abdomen. After the incident all the accused parted ways. The motive behind the offence seems to be rivalry between Bajai Raja and Pandu pai due to personal differences. The motive will be further established only after the nabbing of Bijai Raja.
Two of the accused Bejai Raja and Yashodhara are sill to be nabbed and the teams are working on it. The arrested accused will be produced before the court today.
The arrested persons are also known to have been involved in other criminal cases in various police stations as under:
- Rohit- five cases of rioting under Suratkal PS limits
- Rajesh- one case of rioting and one case of attempt to murder under Suratkal PS limits
- Yuvaraj- five cases of rioting and hurt under Udupi, Kaup and Padubidiri PS limits
The teams that worked in cracking this case include PI DICIB Venkatesh Prasanna and his team, PSI Mangalore Rural PS Prakash and his team, CPI Mangalore Rural Lingappa under the supervision of SP DK and DIGP (WR). The teams will be rewarded suitably.
It may also be recalled that after the offence there were some groups laying claim to the murder with an intention to take credit and these claims have been proved to be false and baseless.
