Two alleged associates of ‘Khali’ Yogish arrested in Mangaluru
The Hindu
The Central Crime Branch police on Tuesday arrested two alleged associates of underworld operative ‘Khali’ Yogish, accused of being involved in an extortion bid of a city merchant.
The Central Crime Branch police on Tuesday arrested two alleged associates of underworld operative ‘Khali’ Yogish, accused of being involved in an extortion bid of a city merchant.
Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal gave the names of the arrested as Mohammed Haneef, 40, of Paivalike village in Kasaragod district of Kerala, and Mohammed Rafiq, 36, of Mudipu in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada.
Mr. Agrawal told reporters on Tuesday that 10 days ago, the owner of a cloth store in the Central Market area received a call reportedly from underworld operative ‘Khali’ Yogish, demanding a ransom of ₹50 lakh. A case was registered in the Mangaluru North police station and the Central Crime Branch (CCB) was asked to investigate it.
On a tip-off, a CCB team, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Geeta Kulkarni and Inspector Shyam Sundar, intercepted a vehicle on Falnir Road on Tuesday morning and apprehended the two accused.
Their questioning has so far revealed that ‘Khali’ Yogish had assigned the task of blackmailing the cloth merchant to the two accused. Haneef was allegedly in constant touch with ‘Khali’ Yogish in this regard and the latter had been using different groups to execute his extortion bids, the Police Commissioner added.
The investigation also revealed that the two accused had also taken a contract from ‘Khali’ Yogish to murder a merchant from Karkala in Udupi district. The Karkala-based merchant had recently filed a complaint with the Karkala police.
‘Khali’ Yogish had allegedly paid an advance to the two accused persons to carry out the murder. The two accused had purchased a pistol from Agra and a revolver from Madikeri, Mr. Agrawal said.