THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tracing the current location of gangster Om Prakash continues to remain a challenge for the police as the sleuths have failed to garner information regarding his whereabouts even after issuing a lookout notice against the 38-year-old Valiyathura native.
The police sources said Om Prakash continues to get support from various quarters, including a few prominent businessmen, who are now settled in various south Indian states. Sources said the police raided the residence of a Kerala businessman, who is now settled in Mangaluru, in search of the gangster.
Similarly, a few other businessmen from Kerala, who run their operations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, have also been questioned due to their connections with the gangster, who is on the run after getting arraigned in a criminal case registered by the Pettah police in January.
His gang hacked four men near Pattoor on January 8 and it was revealed that the attack was planned by the gangster, who has been lying low after being acquitted by the High Court in the Aprani Krishnakumar murder case in 2018.
Sources added that a reputed doctor, who is practising in Chennai, was also questioned by the cops after it was revealed that Om used to communicate with him. “It turned out that he was in touch with the doctor for treating one of his relatives,” sources said.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer said the contacts the gangster made through his political and community activities seem to be helping him. “He has got elaborate contacts, unlike most other criminals. What sets him apart from other gangsters is that he has the brawn and the brains. He has a good rapport with people from the upper strata of society.
When we asked the doctor from Chennai and a few businessmen, who were suspected to be connected with him, they did not deny their friendship with the gangster and were singing paeans on his traits and character,” the officer said. The last credible information the cops got about the gangster was that he was in Hyderabad. What makes it difficult to track him is that Om knows the way the sleuths function. A Special Branch officer said he has not contacted his ex-wife, relatives, or other friends since he went absconding.
“Since the mobile phones are not being used, we won’t be able to trace him digitally,” the officer added.The officer said the gangster has the habit of hiding from the police for a long time. “After the sensational Aprani Kumar murder in 2007, he went into hiding for a year. He is employing the same tactic currently,” the officer added.