Mysuru: The verdict in the case where Rs. 2.07 crore was looted at Yelwal from a Kerala-bound bus in the wee hours of Jan. 4, 2014 will be pronounced on Dec. 23.

The Third Additional District and Sessions Court has completed the trial and was supposed to deliver the verdict on Dec. 20 (yesterday) but due to some technical issues, the verdict will now be pronounced on Dec. 23.

The accused in the high-profile case and their advocates Mahadev Deshik, Rohit and Public Prosecutor Dharanaiah were present at the court along with curious public who wanted to know the verdict.

The investigation was done by CID and the chargesheet, evidence list and the mahazar report were submitted to the court in May 2014 and in all, 11 persons were named in the chargesheet.

CASE HISTORY

On Jan. 3, 2014, the Mysuru Police had got information that crores of rupees of hawala money was being transported from Bengaluru to Kerala in a bus named ‘Kalpaka’ (KA-01-AA-2793).

The Police immediately planned an operation to intercept the bus and formed a team under the guidance of the then Southern Range IGP K. Ramachandra Rao and Mysuru Rural Dy.SP Srihari Baragur.

The then Mysuru South Rural Inspector Jagadeesh (presently, District Crime Records Bureau Inspector Madikeri), Head Constable Ravi and Constables Satish, Ashok, Latif and Manohar were part of the team.

The team was waiting for the bus near Yelwal as per the information given by informers Saleem, Sharief, Mustaq and Joseph. The bus reached Yelwal at 2 am on Jan. 4, 2014.

On search, the Police recovered Rs. 20 lakh cash that was kept in the tool box. An FIR was registered and the bus driver Akhtar Hussain and conductor Munir were taken into custody.

After the seizure, Jagadeesh had lodged a complaint (Crime No: 1/2014) at Yelwal Police Station, stating that Rs. 20 lakh was seized from the wooden box under a passenger seat in the back of the bus.?Bus driver Akhtar Hussain and conductor Munir were booked under Section 41-B of the IPC (unclaimed property) and 102?of the CrPC.

TWIST IN THE CASE

The case received a major twist when Sylalubiddin, a gold merchant from Kozhikode in Kerala had alleged that the Police personnel had pocketed over Rs. 2 crore they had seized from the bus.

The Police initially claimed they had seized Rs. 20 lakh “hawala money” being transported to escape the hawk eyes of law. But everything changed when the businessman lodged a complaint with the then Mysore Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare, saying the money was his and that the major chunk of it had been pocketed by the Police. Khare quickly arrested three Police informers Saleem,?Sharief and Mustaq.

It also came to light that though there is a Police Station at Yelwal whose head is a Sub-Inspector, the accused Policemen exceeded their jurisdiction as the area falls under South Station headed by a Circle Police Inspector (CPI).

The Policemen were booked for unlawful assembly (Section 143 of the IPC), wrongful restraint (144) robbery (392) and criminal conspiracy (120-B) after the merchant made the complaint.

The businessman had named Jagadeesh and four other Policemen. But during investigation, the names of two Constables, Manohar and Ravi cropped up and they were also named accused.

The case was later handed over to the CID, which sprang a surprise by arresting Prakash, the gunman of IGP?Ramachandra Rao. The six Policemen, however, remained at large for many days.

As they are well-versed with the methods to track down criminal suspects, they had switched off their mobile phones and thus succeeded in eluding the CID sleuths for days. All of them were, however, arrested later.