Daijiworld Media Network – Puttur

Puttur, Dec 9: In a major breakthrough, Puttur town police have arrested five accused in connection with the theft of coffee bags worth Rs 21,44,000 from a lorry transporting goods from Piriya to Mangaluru.

During the investigation, police identified and arrested the prime accused, Ashlesha Bhatt, along with Narayana Shettigar, Mithun Kumar, Vijay Shetty, and Mohammad Ashraf.

All five accused have been taken into custody. Police also recovered two auto-rickshaws, one goods tempo used in the crime, and all 80 stolen gunny bags, each containing 60 kg of coffee beans.

It may be recalled, the case was registered based on a complaint filed by Tirthesh (29), a resident of Kabaka, Puttur. He is the owner and driver of lorry KA 19 AB 2258.

According to the complaint, on December 3, he had loaded 320 gunny bags of coffee beans (60 kg each) from a coffee curing company in Piriya and was transporting them to Mangaluru. That night, he reached Puttur and parked his lorry on the roadside at Nehru Nagar, Kabaka, locked the doors, and went home.

On December 4, he resumed his journey and reached Mangaluru port by afternoon. During the company’s routine quality check, it was found that the rear seal of the lorry had been tampered with. Upon inspection, 80 gunny bags of coffee beans, worth Rs 21,44,000, were found missing.

Following the complaint, Puttur town police registered a case under Crime No. 120/2025, invoking Section 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, and launched an investigation that led to the arrest of the accused and the recovery of stolen property.