KOCHI: The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), probing the beauty parlour attack case in Kochi, has found that a Karnataka native was the main person who coordinated the attack with the help of other accused as per the direction of gangster Ravi Pujari to extort money from actor Leena Maria Paul, who owned the parlour.
Officials said they have launched an operation to nab the accused identified as Gulam Mohammed, 53, of Talwar Thota Hejamidi in Udupi. “A few days back, he attempted for an anticipatory bail while remaining in hiding. We opposed the bail application and the court dismissed his plea,” said an officer.
The ATS has found that Gulam Mohammed along with seven others including Ravi Pujari were part of the conspiracy for extorting Rs 25 crore from Leena Maria Paul. The gang decided to target her because they were fully aware of Rs 200 crore money laundering in which Leena and her husband Sukesh Chandrasekhar were involved.
“Gulam did all the planning for executing the attack on the beauty parlour. Gulam coordinated with Ravi Pujari who was then operating from the Republic of Senegal,” an official said. Apart from Gulam, three others have been absconding. As part of the probe, the ATS has decided to ascertain the source of weapon used in the attack, seize the mobile phones of the accused and find financial transactions.
The ATS is also collecting the details of the persons who had close association with Leena and Sukesh. In fact, a few persons had met Sukesh while he was in Kochi before his arrest. Officials suspect that Gulam through another accused identified as Monayi of Kasaragod had hired two Ernakulam natives — Bilal and Vipin Varghese — to carry out the attack at the parlour. Both Bilal and Vipin were arrested in April 2019.