10 persons held in dacoity case

Mangaluru (Karnataka), Jul 5 (PTI) Ten persons have been arrested in connection with a dacoity at the house of a PWD contractor, police said here on Friday.

The incident was reported on June 21 at Ulaibettu under Mangalore Rural Police Station limits, they said.

City Police Commissioner Anupam Agarwal said seven of the arrested were from Kerala while two were from Neeramarga and one from Bantwal.

On June 21, a gang of eight to nine masked men entered the house of contractor Padmanabha Kotyan, tied him up and beat him, threatened his wife and children and stole cash and jewellery worth Rs 9 lakh. Also, they took a vehicle that belonged to the contractor and after travelling in it for some distance abandoned it and escaped.

According to police, four local persons had planned the robbery. Vasanth, a household help who doubled up as a lorry driver in the fleet owned by Kotyan, with another person, linked up with a group from Kerala to hatch the dacoity plan some eight months ago.

Police further said Vasanth and his accomplices planned to rob Kotyan, who they learnt had a lot of wealth. The gang had brought large gunny bags with them, in anticipation of making away with a huge amount of money.

Four or five more persons are still at large and will be arrested soon, police added.

The dacoity was meticulously planned and executed, police said, adding three teams had to be formed to catch the accused.