Police bust suspected case of gold hawala

MANGALURU: A special police team of personnel from the city crime branch (CCB) and Urwa police station on Monday busted what city police chief T R Suresh said is a suspected case of gold hawala with the recovery of Rs 1.75 crore in cash.
The team nabbed two accused who allegedly robbed and kidnapped Manjunath Ganapathy Palankar, an employee of Vaishnavi Jewellers on Car Street, on October 23 when he returned to the city from Mumbai with the cash.

Abdul Mannan, 29, resident of KB Road, Talapady, BC Road and Raji, 26, Padil, Mangaluru, and two others forced Manjunath into an MUV when he alighted from a private bus at Lady Hill around 12.20pm on October 23 and forced him off the vehicle at Bajpe. On October 26, Manjunath lodged a complaint with Urwa police station, alleging that that four people accosted him, took away a backpack containing Rs 15 lakh in cash and two cellphones.

Informing that a special team, headed by CCB and Urwa PS PIs Shantharam and Ravish S Nayak, was set up to detect the case, Suresh told reporters that the team zeroed in on Mannan and Raji and recovered Rs 1.75 crore from their possession. The booty included 7,250 currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination and 6,000 notes of Rs 500 denomination, he said. "We believe Manjunath could have been carrying around Rs 2.35 crore with him," he added.

Recovery of the amount, the second largest seized by city police, forced its top brass to inform the IT department. "We will also loop in the Enforcement Directorate in this case," he said.

Manjunath and Santhosh Kudlekar, owner of Vaishnavi Jewellers, will automatically become part of the larger suspected gold hawala probe. Santhosh has an outlet in Mumbai and Manjunath was a regular courier of gold to and cash from there, he said.

Noting that the duo was inspired by a similar modus operandi used by the infamous 'Target Gang' of Ullal, Suresh said the remaining Rs 60 lakh is with four other accused for whom a manhunt has been launched. Given that the number accused is now six, Suresh said the section of dacoity as against robbery with kidnapping will now be incorporated into the FIR.