Four arrested on charges of Arecanut theft

UDUPI: Four persons were arrested in connection with Arecanut theft reported in the region, police said on Monday.The accused are Santosh, 35, from Nooji Baltila village, Kadaba taluk; Shanoor Babulal Nawaz alias Nawaz alias Ghajni, 31, from Kalghatgi taluk, Dharwad district, and currently residing in Bhatkal taluk, Uttara Kannada district; Khwaja alias Mohammad Khwaja, 26, and Mohammad Sadiq alias Sadiq, 27, from Bhatkal taluk, Uttara Kannada district.SP Hariram Shankar said on Monday that all the accused were arrested and produced before a court. In connection with this case, 455 kg of stolen arecanut and a car used for its transport were recovered, he said.It may be recalled that complainant Masood Patel from Hadinagadde in Yadtare village, Byndoor taluk, and owner of about 60 acres of land where he cultivates arecanut, coconut, jackfruit, mango, rubber and other crops, alleged that he stored approximately 200 bags of sun-dried arecanut in plastic sacks, stacked and covered with black plastic inside a godown located in his Hadinagadde plantation.On May 22, around 10.00 am, when he visited the godown, he found that the lock of the iron grill gate at the entrance was broken open. It was later discovered that between May 15 and May 22, unknown miscreants broke the lock of the godown and stole all 200 bags of arecanut. The estimated value of the stolen arecanut is around Rs 5.6 lakh. In this connection, a case was registered at the Byndoor Police Station under Sections 331(3), 331(4), and 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Following the arecanut theft cases reported in the jurisdiction of Byndoor Police Station, a special investigation was launched under the guidance of Udupi SP Hariram Shankar and the supervision of Additional SP Sudhakar Naik and DySP of Kundapur sub-division H.D. Kulkarni, with leadership from Byndoor Circle Inspector Saviithra Tej. Two investigation teams were formed. The investigation was led by PSI Timmesh B.N., PSI Naveen Borakar from Byndoor Police Station, PSI Vinay from Kollur Police Station, along with other personnel.