Bengaluru police named Vicky Shetty, an underworld operative associated with gangs in Mumbai, as the main defendant on their charge sheet for the murder of a bar owner in the city’s central business district on the night of October 15. from last year.
Vicky Shetty aka Balakrishna Shetty aka Vijay Shetty aka Vishwanath Shetty, a former member of the Chhota Rajan gang who is believed to be living abroad and has a criminal record in the coastal city of Mangalore, was named based on statements provided by four of his alleged killers, arrested hours after the murder, and claims made by Shetty himself. Two others were arrested for allegedly providing logistical support to the murder.
An arrest warrant has been issued without bail for the arrest of Vicky Shetty, who is missing, while the other six defendants are in jail.
In phone calls to news channels in Bengaluru and Mangaluru, a caller identifying himself as Vicky Shetty had claimed that the murder of bar owner Manish Shetty was an act of revenge, as he allegedly orchestrated the murder of Kishan Hegde, a gangster in the coast of Udupi, police said.
Hegde, who had links to Hindutva groups, was beaten to death in broad daylight by a group of men on September 24, 2020. The police had arrested associates of Manoj Kodikere, an activist from the Hindu Jagaran Vedike with a criminal record, for the murder.
“It was an act of revenge for the murder of Kishan Hegde in Hiriadka. He (Manish Shetty) provided all the support for the assassination. He was the boss of Kodikere Manoj (a suspect in Hegde’s murder). It is under his influence that the murder took place. That is why we attacked Manish Shetty, ”the caller identifying herself as Vicky Shetty told DaijiworldTV in Mangalore.
The murder in Udupi was suspected of being related to a fight between two rival gangs for control of economic activities in the Mangaluru port region.
The subsequent assassination in Bengaluru was seen as a possible attempt by new agents to seize control of the underworld in Bengaluru and Mangaluru following the death of the gangster Muthappa Rai and the extradition of the gangster Ravi Pujari from Senegal.
Manish Shetty, aka Sarvamitra Shetty (41), a partner of gangster Ravi Pujari with a history of involvement in robberies and extortion, had served a 10-year prison sentence for a 2006 bank robbery in the Belagavi region. In prison, he was allegedly involved in coordinating the Ravi Pujari gang’s extortion activities with associates such as Kali Yogish and Nikhil Shetty, who was extradited from Dubai in 2015 prior to his death. After his release from prison, Manish Shetty provided force for a fraudulent real estate company and was also an informant, law enforcement sources said.
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