Mangaluru, Nov 27: A local court on Friday awarded life term to three persons and seven years’ imprisonment to two others in a sensational murder that shook the coastal city six years ago.
The District and Sessions Court, which on Wednesday had found five alleged associates of terrorist Ravi Poojary guilty of murdering human rights advocate Noushad Kashimji, who was known as the most successful criminal lawyer in the city, pronounced quantum of punishment on Friday amidst tight security.
The five convicts are Dinesh Shetty (30), Pratap Shetty (32), Ritesh Kulal (26), Subramanya (30) and Ganesh (34). While Dinesh, Pratap and Kulal have been found guilty of murder, Subramanya and Ganesh have been found guilty of sheltering the assailants and hiding evidence related to the murder.
The 3rd Additional District and Sessions Judge S.H. Pushpanjali Devi awarded life imprisonment under IPC sections 302 and 120 B, and Rs 20,000 penalty each to first three convicts. The trio also sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and Rs 5,000 penalty under Arms Act sections 3 and 25. The sentences will run concurrently.
Failure to pay the fine would result in another five years of rigorous imprisonment.
The other two convicts were sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment under IPC sections 201 and Rs 10,000 penalty each. Failure to pay the fine would result in another three years of rigorous imprisonment.
Noushad’s murder on April 9, 2009, had shocked the city as it was the first instance where an underworld operative had gone beyond issuing threats to the rich in the region.
According to the charge sheet, Ravi Poojary directed Dinesh to hire two persons to murder the advocate. Dinesh bought weapons from Aland in Kalaburagi district and from Bengaluru, and he entrusted the work to Pratap and Ritesh.
On the fateful day, Dinesh called Naushad from a public booth and talked about the Rashid Malabari case. As soon as Naushad left his apartment on Sturrock Road, Pratap and Ritesh fired two rounds and used the firearms to hit the advocate on his head, which led to his death.
A special investigation team — set up by the then Inspector-General of Police (Western Range) Gopal B. Hosur and Superintendent of Police Subramanyeshwara Rao — arrested nine persons. Twelve persons, including underworld operatives Ravi Poojary and Khali Yogish, were named as accused.
The police had recovered three pistols, eight rounds of ammunition and Rs. 3.5 lakh in cash from them. A charge sheet was filed by investigation officer N.R. Mukri. Prosecutors Shivaprasad Alva and Narayan Sherigar examined as many as 72 witnesses.
It could be recalled here that late K Purushotham Poojary, who was then senior most advocate in the Mangaluru Bar Association, and the family members of Kashimji had accused a few prominent police officers in the city of involving in the murder.
Kashimji was also defending a few controversial persons including Rasheed Malbari, an alleged aide of Chota Shakeel, and Atul Rao, who according to late Poojary, had been falsely implicated in the murder of Padmapriya, wife of former Udupi MLA and BJP leader Raghupati Bhat.
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