Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Sep 14: Three of the accused in the murder case pertaining to Karopady gram panchayat vice president, Abdul Jaleel, have approached the high court. They have questioned the justifiability of invoking provisions of The Karnataka Control of Organized Crimes Act (KCOCA) against them.

The accused, identified as P Dinakar Shetty, Vinod Kumar Shetty and Pradeep Shetty, had filed the petition which came before the single judge bench of Justice Aravind Kumar on Wednesday September 13. The bench, which heard the case for sometime, questioned as to whether any international call had been received before Jaleel's murder. Seeking reply to this query, it adjourned hearing in the case to September 21.

Abdul Jaleel Karopady

Rachappa, who represented the government, argued that this happens to be a serious criminal case of involving underground criminal, Vicky alias Cicky Shetty. He said that in such cases, collection of evidence poses a huge challenge for the police. Therefore, he argued that the government was in order in invoking the said act, and requested the bench not to grant stay for the investigation.

When Jaleel fought for the post of vice president in Karopady gram panchayat, P Dinesh Shetty, said to be a relative of Vicky Shetty, had also contested. Dinesh Shetty was defeated in the election. Shetty and others are into finance business in the village. When Shetty applied for permission to extract sand, Jeleel had turned it down. Because of enmity arising out of these things, it was claimed, that Jaleel was murdered on April 20 when he was alone in the gram panchayat office, with lethal weapons.

Police personnel, who claim that Vicky Shetty is involved with this incident, have named 17 persons in the first information report. In view of the seriousness of the crime, the provisions of KCOCA were invoked against the accused.