Rumours abound of Rashid Malabari’s arrest in Belagavi

Mangalore Today News Network

Belagavi, May 15, 2017: Rumours are being heard in the city that police have taken Rashid Malabari - a close associate of the underworld don Chhota Shakeel - along with his aides into custody on Sunday. However, police have denied these reports.

Rashid Malbari has jumped bail after he was released from the Bangalore Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara on July 2014. Malbari, who has at least nine criminal cases in Mangalore and one in Bangalore against him, was shifted from Mangalore prison to Bellary and later to Bangalore Central Prison for security reasons. He slipped out of the police radar despite the State police mounting surveillance on his movement.

Sources said that police had apprehended Malabari’s associates a while ago, and interrogated them. "Acting on the information they provided, police were able to find the body of Rohan Redekar, son of a city-based industrialist, at Chorla Ghat on Sunday," said sources.

Rohan had been kidnapped on February 18, 2015. Sources further said Malabari’s associates had confessed to the crimes, including murder, during interrogation. Reports on TV channels claim that Malabari has been residing in Belagavi since 2014, with the help of a few influential friends. However, deputy commissioner of police (law and order), Belagavi, R Radhika said, "We know about Malabari’s Belagavi connections, but there’s no truth to these reports that he’s staying in the city.’

Police commissioner TG Krishna Bhatta denied the reports. "We’ve taken a few people into custody for inquiry. But they are not related to the Malabari case," he said.