BENGALURU: An aide of gangster Chhota Shakeel was taken into police custody on Wednesday for allegedly plotting the murder of a Sangh Parivar leader.
The Central Crime Branch of the city police said they had averted communal clashes by arresting him before he could carry out his plans.
Syed Niyamat, (28), a resident of Bismillah Nagar, was hired by Chhota Shakeel, allegedly to carry out attacks in Bengaluru next week.
M Chandrashekhar, Joint Commissioner of the CCB, told reporters, “The police intelligence wing had kept an eye on Syed’s movements. During the vigil, we found that he was in constant touch with Chhota Shakeel.”
Syed is a history-sheeter. He faces a murder case and seven cases of extortion and assault. He was released on bail last year and had resumed his criminal career, police said.
Syed was not just a thug motivated by the lure of money. He was associated with the Islamist group Popular Front of India (PFI) and other radical organisations, police said.
Murky History
Syed had been arrested in 2009 for killing Madaiah, a Hindu in love with a Muslim girl in Tilak Nagar. The CCB got to know a plan was afoot to create communal disturbances and started looking at suspects. Syed’s name came up because of the murder case and his involvement with the PFI.
“If we had put off the arrest, we could have nabbed a prominent member of Dawood Ibrahim’s company in contact with Syed. We had to arrest Syed as he was about to execute his plan,” a police source said.
Weapons were coming from northern Karnataka for the attack next week. Syed’s contact could have given the police better leads, the source claimed.
“But we did not take the risk because of the threat to law and order. The gangsters also have a network to track police movements,” the police source said.
Police Dilemma
The murders, if executed, could have triggered communal clashes across South India. “It was a choice between a bird in hand and two in the bush,” a senior officer said.
Police intelligence suspects the communal riots witnessed in Karnataka since the assassination of eminent writer M M Kalburgi could be a proxy gang war.
“The murder of Prashanth Poojary, associated with a Hindu outfit, is one case. And in jail, Vicky Shetty, who claims to protect Hindu interests, murdered Madur Yusuf, said to be a Chota Shakeel man. These crimes indicate a war between underworld dons,” the source said.