Mangaluru City Police Commissioner N Shashi Kumar on Tuesday 19 January informed the press that the perpetrators behind the attack on a police constable had been apprehended.
“Six persons were arrested in connection to the assault of police constable Ganesh Kamath attached to Bunder police station on December 16 at Alake, New Chitra junction,” he said. “The arrested are Aneesh Ashraf (22), Abdul Khader Fahad (23) and Raheel (18), all residents of Kudroli, Sheik Mohammed Harris (31) from Bajpe, Mohammed Qaiz (24) from Tannirbhavi, and Mohammed Nawaz (30) from BC Road.”
Constable Kamath was on duty near New Chitra junction when an assailant attacked him with a sword.
“The gang is known as ‘Maya Gang’. Police constable Ganesh Kamath was a random target for the group as they wanted to avenge the anti-CAA protest firing which took place on December 19, 2019”, he added. The accused Mohammed Nawaz is a distant relative of the person who died in the firing incident.
Accused consumed drugs in prelude to attack
The accused are also believed to be involved in the illegal distribution and sale of drugs. Nawaz, who works at a medical store, was giving Schedule H drugs to Qaiz and distributing the drugs to others as well. The accused also consumed the drugs while committing the crime, according to police.
“The accused coordinated with another gang as well in planning the assault. The probe is on to know the involvement of the other gang. We will arrest them soon. One of the accused, Aneesh Ashraf, who has a criminal record, contacted Raheel who agreed to execute the crime by consuming the schedule H drugs,” Shashi Kumar further continued.
Schedule H drugs are prescribed by doctors to patients suffering from muscle spasms, insomnia, health issues related to old age, etc.
One of the accused, Mohammed Nawaz, also pretended to help the police and passed on certain misleading information to subvert the inquiry. The group originally planned to attack the police on December 19 last year, which marked the one year anniversary of the firing incident. But concerned over heightened security on that day, the group executed their plan on December 16.
DCP Hariram and DCP Vinay Goankar were also present at the media briefing.