Tiptop Basheer, a businessman from Sagar city, was arrested on Tuesday on the charge of hiring hitmen to kill Munavar, a member of the management committee of Jamia Masjid in Shivamogga city.
The arrested is involved in hotel and real estate businesses in Shivamogga and Sagar cities and is said to have had a personal and business rivalry with Munavar. According to the police, Basheer had requested Sadiq, a resident of M.K.K. Road, who was arrested in October last year under The Karnataka Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug-Offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum-Grabbers Act, 1985, to kill Munavar and had promised to pay him ₹10 lakh.
After getting the money, Sadiq assigned the job to Bombay Saleem, a rowdy from Bengaluru, and promised to pay him ₹5 lakh for the job. Saleem visited Shivamogga thrice in November and December but could not execute the plan.
Bombay Saleem, who had been arrested by Mandya police recently for his alleged involvement in honey-trap and highway robbery cases, had revealed the plot to kill Munavar to them during interrogation. The Mandya police alerted their counterparts in Shivamogga. Based on the information provided by Sadiq and Saleem, a team from Shivamogga arrested Basheer from Kozhikode in Kerala.
Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare said that Bachan, a local rowdy in Shivamogga, was also part of the conspiracy. The revolver with which Saleem had planned to kill Munavar has been seized from Bachan’s residence.
The police have booked a case under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 120A (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code against Basheer, Sadiq, Saleem and Bachan in this connection.
Mr. Khare said that Sadiq had made several calls from a mobile phone in prison to execute the plot. The police will probe into how he got the phone, he added.
