Prime accused in BJP leader’s murder shot dead in police encounter

Less than 30 hours after his sensational escape from custody, forty-year-old Mulki Rafique, who had reportedly masterminded the murder of BJP leader Sukhananda Shetty, was shot dead in an encounter with the police near the Udupi railway station.

Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Sathyanarayana Rao said Rafique has escaped from the clutches of the police when he was being taken to Mysore jail from Mangalore late on Saturday night. But, on Sunday, he surfaced near the Udupi railway station, pillion riding a motorcycle. On seeing the police, Rafique got down from the motorcycle and began running away while the motorcycle rider fled the scene.

Rafique shot at the police with a country-made revolver, forcing the police to return fire, Satyanarayana Rao told reporters. While Rafique fired two rounds, the policemen fired five rounds and critically injured him. He breathed his last on the way to the hospital.

Earlier, the police, acting on a tip-off that Rafique was using a particular mobile phone, the police began tracking the number, which was finally traced to the Manipal tower in Udupi. The police launched a manhunt and Rafique was finally spotted near the Udupi railway station early on Sunday.

After the shoot-out, police recovered a railway ticket and cash of Rs 1,200, besides a revolver from Rafique’s body. They also seized an abandoned motorcycle that was lying about half a kilometer from the spot.

Rafique’s was the second police encounter in the last one month. On December 19, Athik alias Sudhir, another accused in BJP leader Sukhananda Shetty’s murder was also killed by the police in an encounter near Baindnoor in coastal Karnataka.

Rafique had escaped from police custody near Devarkolli in the midst of a forest range in the dead of the night late on Saturday when he was being taken to Mysore jail in an open jeep. A handcuffed Rafique had reportedly pushed the police constable seated next to him, jumped off the jeep and escaped in the forests under a cover of darkness.

Rafique, had been arrested on December 29 on charges of conspiring to murder Sukhananda Shetty in Mangalore recently. Police said Rafique is involved in a total of eighteen criminal cases so far, including five cases related to murder and four attempts to murder.