MANIPAL: Personnel of Manipal police station have arrested two persons in connection with a robbery they committed with two students and are on the lookout for a third accused in this case. The incident happened in the early hours of January 31 when the students walking along a desolate road near KFC Hotel were waylaid by a group of three persons. The accused took away two mobile phones, earplugs, watch, and money at knife point.
N Vishnuvardhan, superintendent of police, giving details of the arrests on Sunday named the accused as Asif and Dastagir Baig, residents of Shivamogga. Asif has several cases against him in Shivamogga district. Police recovered two mobile phones, a knife and a Honda Civic car the accused used in the crime. The accused used the car to waylay the students and approached them in the guise of asking for a cigarette before drawing the knife.
Noting that the incident had created a scare in the student community, SP said a team was constituted under Manjunath M, police inspector, Manipal PS to nab the accused. The team visited Mumbai, Thane, Bengaluru and Shivamogga in connection with the investigation, SP said. Withholding details on the third accused as the case is still under investigation, SP urged students and the general public to be careful while venturing out at night.
EXTORTIONIST HELD
In another case, SP said, police nabbed Basavaraj, 25, resident of Nandavadike in Ilkal taluk of Bagalkot district from Bagalkot on charges of trying to extort Rs 10000 from his employer Dileep Kumar Rai at Manipal. Police did not have much leads to go by in the case as Rai had not taken the contact details of Basavaraj who was working at Indian Nursery. The accused had fled after a botched attempt to extort money from his employer, SP said.