BENGALURU: Bar owner Manish Shetty’s murder by bike-borne assailants late on Thursday evening was reportedly a “contract (supari) killing” by a rival gang or one of his former accomplices with whom he had fallen out, highly placed sources told The New Indian Express.
“Prima facie, the crime footprint and the sequence of events leading to Manish’s murder points to the involvement of notorious fugitive gangster Vishwanatha Koraga (VK) Shetty,” said an official. The police are also not ruling out the involvement of Shetty’s former associate and another fugitive underworld gangster, Kali Yogesh alias Yogesh Bangera.
‘Manish had a fallout with another gangster’
Shetty and Yogesh are from coastal Karnataka and are believed to be operating from the Middle East.
Manish, V K Shetty and Yogesh are former associates of underworld don Ravi Pujari, who was extradited from Senegal in February this year. He was brought to Bengaluru by ADGP (Law & Order) Amar Kumar Pandey and his team of officers, which included the incumbent Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil.
Manish was shot at from a single barrel breach loading (SBBL) gun and attacked with a machete. “His post-mortem report will confirm the cause of death and give the police a clearer picture,” the officer said.
V K Shetty has more than 16 cases, including murder, attempt to murder and extortion, against him and Yogesh has over 29 cases for heinous crimes registered against him in Karnataka. Manish also faced several cases of dacoity and attempt to murder.
While in prison for his involvement in the Chemmanur Jewellers gold heist case in 2007, Manish, who was the prime accused in that case, was allegedly in touch with Ravi Pujari and Yogesh. “It is possible that Manish fell out with Yogesh over some financial dealings and the latter may have plotted Manish’s murder,” said the source.Manish hailed from Koppa taluk in Chikkamagaluru district.