The shooting of pub owner Manish Shetty, just off Brigade Road, is the result of a running feud on the Karnataka coast, according to the Bengaluru police.
Senior police officers told Metrolife two gangs are fighting for primacy after the arrest of Ravi Poojary and Bannanje Raja, two gang lords who called the shots for many years.
“The gang war is now between Vicky Shetty on the one side and Rakesh Malli, once a right-hand man for Muthappa Rai, on the other,” a top police officer says.
The Mangaluru-Udupi region has always been the hub of gang wars because it has a port, and gangsters thrive on smuggling and labour problems, police say. “Bengaluru is more of a service-oriented economy in which mafia lords have little interest. Cases of shooting and gang rivalry is less in the city (see box),” a top cop from Central Crime Branch (CCB) investigating the Manish Shetty murder case told Metrolife.
Real estate trigger
But all gang lords come to Bengaluru to invest in real estate. At least some of the money earned illegally from smuggling and extortion eventually comes to Bengaluru from Mangaluru.
“Muthappa Rai was more popular as a real estate don than a natural don. Real estate is a trigger. These gangs make solid investments in Bengaluru where they can roll money,” he says. ‘Rolling money’ refers to lending informally at high rates of interest. This also involves the use of violence to recover dues.
Hired killers
The Manish Shetty murder was one gangster eliminating another, the officer says. “The suspects we have caught are like foot soldiers hired to do the job. Someone is trying to settle scores,” he says.
Among those arrested from a lodge in Bengaluru for the Manish Shetty murder is Shashikiran alias Munna. He is a prime accused in a murder case from 2000 in Ullal, near Mangaluru, and in another murder case dating back to 1998. The other three have no criminal background.
“They are from Kodagu. They can handle guns and machetes. The weapons they used were a 9 mm pistol and a single-barrel breech-loading gun. Neither is licensed,” says the officer.
Wanted criminal
Manish Shetty aka Sarvotham Shetty, owner of Duet pub off Brigade Road, was a wanted criminal.
“He was involved in robbery, assault, dacoity and drug peddling. He had bases in Hyderabad and Mumbai. He had made huge investments in Bengaluru. Big cities like Bengaluru provide the anonymity that criminals look for,” says another top policeman investigating the case. Bengaluru and Mumbai provide the hideouts from criminals from Mangaluru and Udupi. They escape to these cities to lie low, he says.
Police suspect the operation to kill Manish Shetty was planned to avenge the murder of Kishan Shetty, a member of the Vicky Shetty gang, in Udupi. “What we saw in Bengaluru was just a fallout,” he says.
The gang wars are intense, and money is just one of the many considerations. “They fight for domination in an area instead of moving out and operating elsewhere,” explains another officer.
Poor convictions
A senior officer who has led several gangster murder investigations says shooting cases rarely end in conviction.
“Gangs always fight for turf, but police vigilance must be strong. We must send out a message that gangs cannot unleash violence or they will be shot,” says the officer.
Trials take time, and police officers are transferred out. “There is a general disregard to get to the bottom of the matter,” says the officer.
Cops shoot at accused
Siji Malayil, advocate, says convictions are low because witnesses don’t come forward to testify in the courts. “They are either threatened into silence or are part of a compromise,” he says. A trend now is for the police to dispense instant justice by shooting at the knee cap of those arrested for heinous crimes, says Malayil. “This causes permanent disability and halts their criminal activities. The recovery rate is low. This is how police are dealing with rowdies who pose a headache to them,” he says.
What happened
Thursday, Oct 15
9.10 pm: Manish Shetty walks out of Duet pub. Two bike-borne men shoot at him and also hack him.
9.45 pm: Police rush Shetty to Mallya Hospital, where he is declared brought dead.
Saturday, Oct 17
11.30 am: Police arrest Shashikiran alias Munna, Ganesh, Nitya, and Akshay from a lodge in Gandhinagar.
6.30 pm: Police fire and injure suspects, who they say tried to escape when they were being taken to where they had hidden their guns. Shashikiran and Akshay are now in hospital.
Cases of shooting in city
2018: 3
2019: 1
2020: 4*
*(including the latest Manish Shetty shooting)
(Source: Central Crime Branch, Bengaluru)