UDUPI : A 45-year-old man was shot dead in the wee hours of Friday in front of a church at Kundapur in Udupi district. The deceased person has been identified as Ivan Richard Mascarenhas alias Munna hailing from Hebri, who currently lived in a rented house in Kachur, Barkur.
Udupi Superintendent of Police(SP) Hariram Shankar told media persons that a person named Derek Crasta, aged 55, who has a prawn business from Kannadakudru in Hemmady, allegedly opened fire at Ivan due to rivalry over some financial dispute.
A woman who was with Ivan at the time of the incident and is an eyewitness to the shootout in a complaint to the Kundapura police claimed that there was an altercation between Derek and Ivan over pending payments related to prawn supply and other financial dealings on Thursday night. Accused Derek, meanwhile, had challenged Ivan to come alone to Kundapur and had also sent a location.
Ivan drove in a car along with a woman he has been staying with for the last 7 years to the location sent. They had stopped the car in front of the church and at around 3.15 am, accused Derek arrived in a car and when Ivan stepped out of his car, Derek suddenly shot below Ivan’s waist and leg and escaped.
“Due to excess bleeding, Ivan died on the spot. We have formed three special teams under Kundapur PSI Nanja Naik, Gangolli PSI Pavan Nayak, Kollur PSI Vinay M Korlahalli to nab the absconding accused,” SP said. Udupi SP and SOCO team visited the crime spot and further investigation is underway.
According to police sources, Ivan alias Munna, an aide of rowdy-sheeter Pitti Nagesh, was jailed in the Pitti Nagesh murder case but got acquitted. He was involved in small businesses and had a few criminal cases registered against him and a rowdy-sheet was invoked at Kundapur station.