Bangalore police busted an illegal arms racket by arresting six men - one an accused in the sensational murder of a travel agent in a five-star hotel 10 years ago and another, an LTTE agent.
The North East Division police, in raids across the State, confiscated a revolver, two country-made pistols, three sophisticated semi-automatic pistols with different calibres ranging between .9 mm and 7.65 mm, 27 rounds of ammunitions, knives and other material from the gang.
The gang
The arrested include former army man Pankaj Kumar Roy (38) of Ashta Bhoji Colony in Uttarkhand, an accused in the Hotel Ashok murder case. The others are R. Srinivas alias LTTE Srinivas (44) from Veerapillai Street near Commercial Street, described as an “LTTE agent” by the police; real estate agent R. Narasimhamurthy alias Murthy (38) from BWSSB Colony near Soladevanahalli on Hesaraghatta Road; G. Shivakumar alias Shiva alias Bikkala Shiva (35) of Mini Avenue Road near Bharathinagar, S. Shiva Kumar alias Shiva (24) from Hadonahalli village near Doddaballapur and S. Harish Kumar alias Hari (23) from Hoovinanayakanahalli near Jala hobli in Bangalore North taluk.
The kingpin of the racket, Roy, was a bodyguard for Aparijit Biswanath Basak, a former management consultant from Pune. He allegedly killed travel agency executive K.R. Ananth Padmanabha Acharya (50) at Hotel Ashok in May 2001. Roy was arrested in that case and released on parole in 2008. However, since then Roy, who was sacked from the Indian Army for misconduct, has been in hiding, violating parole conditions.
Speaking to reporters at his office here on Friday, City Police Commissioner B.G. Jyothi Prakash Mirji said the gang, led by Roy, had been allegedly supplying arms and ammunitions to criminals in the city as well as in other parts of the State.
Arms to LTTE
“Srinivas had been arrested by the Intelligence Bureau in Fraser Town, Bangalore a few years ago on charges of supplying arms to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Tamil Nadu. Narasimha Murthy is involved in five murders,” B.R. Ravi Kanthe Gowda, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East Division), told The Hindu.
Roy, when he was serving time in the Bangalore Central Prison, came in contact with the other gang members and started to supply arms and ammunitions to criminals, said Bagalur Police Inspector Parameshwar A. Heggade.
He had secured fake gun licences from Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and purchased the weapons using them. – The Hindu
