Extortion case: Bannanje Raja associates nabbed

Udupi/Bengaluru: Five associates of underworld element Bannanje Rajahave been arrested by the DCIB in connection to an attempted extortion case.

The arrested are identified as Shashi Poojary alias Shadow (28) and Ravichandra Poojary alias Vicky Poojary (30), both from Mangaluru living in Bengaluru, Dhanraj Poojary alias Dhanraj alias Rock (26) and Ullas Shenoy alias Ullas (27) from Malpe and Dhanraj Salian alias Dhanu Kola (30) from Mangaluru living in Udyavar.

Initially, Shashi, Ravichandra and Dhanraj were arrested in Bengaluru on Thursday March 21. The information divulged by them later led to the arrest of the remaining two accused in Udupi.

The arrests come in connection to a case filed in Brahmavar police station on March 13 regarding a threat call made to a businessman by the accused demanding protection money. The investigation into the case was led by DCIB inspector C Kiran. The team collected information and traced the call to Shashi Poojary and based on this information, the team went to Bengaluru to locate the accused.

A close watch was maintained by the team on popular partying places and pubs in Bengaluru. On Mar 21st at around 10:30 pm, the team noticed three persons standing outside a bar on a bylane in Brigade Road. After positive identification of Sashi Poojary among the three based on a photograph, the police encircled the accused, moved in and arrested them.

Under interrogation, the trio spilled the beans on the whereabouts of the other two accused. Thus on Mar 22, the police nabbed Dhanu and Ullas from Malpe and Brahmavar respectively. Both the accused are presently in the custody of Brahmavar police.