BREAKTHROUGH: The main accused in the Shabnam Developers shootout case Anand being produced at a press conference in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: The South East division police have arrested 11 persons, said to be the accomplices of Mumbai underworld operator Ravi Poojari in connection with the shooting incident at Shabnam Developers here on February 15.

Commissioner of Police Neelam Achuta Rao told presspersons on Tuesday that among the arrested was S. Anand (26) of Hosur in Tamil Nadu, who had opened fire with a 9 mm pistol and killed two employees of the real estate agency.

The police have seized the pistol and the motorcycle on which Anand and his arrested accomplice T. Vijay Kumar (26) of 9th Block, Jayanagar, had come to the real estate agency in Tilaknagar police station limits, he said.

Investigation revealed that Poojari, based aboard, had paid Rs. 16 lakh through hawala channel to his aide Kaviraj, alias Prem (28) in Bangalore to plan and execute the attack.

Poojari had hatched a conspiracy to kill K.S. Samiullah, former corporator and proprietor of Shabnam Developers, to establish a foothold over Bangalore's real estate business by taking over disputed lands.

By attacking Mr. Samiullah, he wanted to create fear psychosis among realtors and builders here and extort money, Mr. Achuta Rao said.

As Anand had not seen Mr. Samiullah he had shot at Ravi (36), an employee of the real estate agency in a case of mistaken identity.

On Kaviraj's instructions, Mohan (24), a realtor who runs a browsing centre at Avalahalli here, had prepared a list of land developers who could be targeted, he said.

To a question, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal B. Hosur said Poojari had selected Mr. Samiullah as he was "mainly dealing in disputed properties."

Mr. Achuta Rao said investigations were on to ascertain Poojari's claim that he had attacked Mr. Samiullah as he was a henchman of the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

Mr. Achuta Rao said efforts were on to trace Suresh Basappa Poojari who is handling Ravi Poojari's activities in India.

The police would seek the Interpol assistance to apprehend Ravi Poojari.

A special police team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Soumendu Mukherjee started a hunt for the killers on the basis of Ravi Poojari's visiting card the alleged shooter had left at the agency.

On suspicion that he had links with Poojari, the police took Yogesh Bangera (34) of Mangalore into custody. On information provided by Bangera, the police arrested the 10 others.

Kaviraj, who was caught in Hyderabad, confessed that on February 15 he had taken shooter Anand to a forest near Hosur, given him a pistol and trained him in using the weapon, the Commissioner said.

The others arrested were Kishore (37) of Kundapura in Udupi district, Ibrahim (35) of Wheelers Road, C. Mahesh (28) of J.P. Nagar, Shiva Kumar (32) of Jayanagar, K. Uday Kumar Hegde (42) of Vidyaranyapura and Santosh (30) of Basaveshwaranagar.

The Commissioner announced a reward for Mr. Mukherjee's team that comprised Assistant Commissioner of Police M.N.B.R. Prasad and Inspectors H.M. Krishnappa, M. Babu, Abdul Sattar, Manjunath, Ashokan, Vinay Gaonkar and Thimmaiah.

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