The Hindu
MANGALORE, May 6: The phone number given to the staff of Builders by the gunmen who fired shots in the company’s office on Saturday is that of an overseas phone, Inspector-General of Police (Western Range) Ashit Mohan Prasad has said.
Two gunmen who entered the office handed over a phone number on a piece of paper to the staff and directed them to make a call to that number. When the staff dithered, the gunmen fired two shots.
Prasad told The Hindu here that the department had viewed the incident seriously as it was a clear case of extortion involving underworld elements. “The number given to the staff is of Dubai or Malaysian origin,” he said. The last officially known location of the alleged underworld don Ravi Poojary, who is suspected to have orchestrated the incident on Vas Lane in the city, was Dubai. “This is also being independently ascertained,” Prasad said.
“We are focussing on the activities of their known local associates,” he said, without elaborating further. Police teams were on the lookout for those involved in the Saturday’s crime, he added.
The shooting comes within a year of the murder of estate agent Subba Rao, allegedly carried out by another Dubai-based underworld don, Bannanje Raja. Prasad said some of the suspects wanted in the Subba Rao case had fled to Dubai.