Key suspect in BJP leader’s murder killed in encounter

The key suspect in the recent murder of BJP leader Sukhananda Shetty, 31-year-old Athik alias Bullet Sudheer was shot dead in a police encounter in Baindoor taluk of Udupi district in Karnataka.

Superintendent of Mangalore district Police Dayanand told reporters that a police team constituted to track down Shetty’s killers had managed to arrest Athik from a house near Jog Falls in Shimoga district. When the police team was returning to Mangalore on Tuesday, Athik requested the police to stop the vehicle to answer nature’s call near Baindoor.

Barely had the police stopped the vehicle and removed the handcuff on one hand, Athik suddenly grabbed the service pistol from a Sub Inspector of police escorting him and ran inside the bushes, Dayanand said.

When the police team followed Athik, he is alleged to have fired at them, forcing the policemen to retaliate. “The police fired 24 rounds out of which three hit the fugitive”, Dayanand said.

The police team rushed him to a primary health centre in Baindoor, but not doctor was available. He was immediately shifted to a private hospital in Udupi, but the doctors declared him brought dead.

Dayanand said Athik was wanted in many cases including Shetty’s killing in Mangalore recently. A native of Nellyadi in Mangalore, Athik had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 for killing one Francis in Nellyadi. When he had been released on parole during 2003, Athik had indulged in robbery and was arrested. However, he had managed to escape from while he was being taken to Mysore jail from Mangalore.

Dayanand said the police had so far arrested a total of ten persons in connection with the murder of Sukhananda Shetty, who was murdered in broad daylight near Mangalore. Shetty’s murder had triggered mob unrest in his native town of Mulki near Mangalore, which led to police firing and claimed two lives.