The police are yet to figure out whether the shots fired by two intruders at a house in Mandikatte near Talapady junction on Tuesday were shot from a real firearm or a toy gun.
“There are no traces of firing from a firearm. The complainant himself is not sure whether a firearm was used,” said Police Commissioner Manish Kharbikar. Based on what the complainant has said, a case has been registered under the Indian Arms Act.
Ullal Police Inspector Madan A. Gaonkar said police are questioning people in the area. They are also showing photographs of possible suspects to Keshava B., retired officer from the Kerala Agriculture Department and his wife Sadhana. The shooting took place at their house.
On Tuesday morning, a person entered the house of Mr. Keshava, which is around three kilometres from the National Highway. The intruder pointed a gun to Mr. Keshava’s wife Ms. Sadhana’s head and asked her to call a number. Under the pretext of finding her mobile phone, Sadhana ran outside the house. The intruder ran after her while Mr. Keshava and his tenant T. Yuvaraj started to chasing him. Just as the intruder reached the road, where his accomplice was, he turned and fired at Keshava.
“The sound was really big. It did not appear to have come from a toy gun,” said Mr. Yuvaraj.
“We saw a frail man running away. We both chased him. Just as Keshava got down to pick up a wooden log he fired. He went away on the motorcycle driven by his accomplice,” he said
The police said Keshava and his wife Sadhana were with them for further the investigation.
Keshava’s neighbour Dharmpal Bhandary said he had seen two persons on Tuesday morning asking for direction to the house of Jayaprakash, whose family members stay near the National Highway.
Mr. Bhandary said the two persons mistook Keshava’s house to be that of Mr. Jayaprakash, who works in Mumbai.
Mr. Gaonkar said that although people brought up the name of Jayaprakash, the records didn’t show that any person with that name resided in that area.
