Bannanje Raja’s associates arrested, illegal weapons seized

Bannanje Raja’s associates arrested, illegal weapons seized

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, August 25, 2011: A special police team from Mangalore has arrested four associates of underworld don Bannanje Raja and 3 others who had attempted to sell illegal pistols. The police have confiscated 2 pistols, 1 revolver, 11 bombs, and 2 cars worth Rs. 4.50 lakhs from the arrested.

Revealing further information at a press conference held in his office today, Mangalore Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said that the Kadri police have registered a case against Bannanje Raja and his associates for firing at Suresh Bhandary, the proprietor of Prithvi Developers near Kadri Park on June 26, 2011. Recently, a case has been registered against one of Bannanje Raja’s associates for firing at the cashier and the security guard of Airodi Jewelers in Udupi on Aug 19, 2011.

A special team comprising Commissioner Singh, DCP M. Muthuraya, and DCP (crime) Dharmaiah, under the leadership of Circle Inspector Vinay Gaonkar was responsible for these arrests.

 

Vinay Gaonkar got a tip that Bannanje Raja’s associates were hiding at Kottara Chowki, making plans to collect ransoms from prominent businessmen within the city, after which he immediately conducted a raid on Aug 25 Thursday at 11:00 a.m. and arrested Devdas Shetty (44) of Kottara Chowki, Niraj Shrivastav alias Manish Kumar alias Rahul (25) of Gorakpur in Uttar Pradesh, Ali Hussain (22) of Ghorakpur, and Vinod Kulal (29) of Jalligudde and confiscated a pistol, a revolver, 6 bombs, a car, and a few mobile phones.

Niraj Shrivastav was supplying weapons to the arrested. Ali Hussain and Javed alias Ajay of Gorakhpur are Bannanje Raja’s sharp shooters. The other people arrested are Amit Chowrasia (27) of Bihar, Rehaj Khan (41), Putta Swamy (44), all associates of Niraj Shrivastav. They were arrested when they were attempting to sell the weapons. The police have seized an Indica car, 5 rounds of ammunition, and a pistol from these people. The Kavoor police have registered a case and investigations are in progress.

The commissioner has recommended that the police officials involved in the case should be amply rewarded.

DCP M. Muthuraya, Circle Inspector Vinay Gaonkar, and many others were present at the press conference.