Udupi: Two police constables have been arrested on Wednesday, July 17, in connection with illegal transportation of cattle. A vehicle transporting cattle illegally near the Sasthan toll gate on NH 66 was caught in the wee hours on July 12.
The arrested have been identified as Vinod Gowda of Manki Police station and Santhosh Shetty of Coastal Security Police from Malpe. The police are also searching for Raghavendra, a Head Constable of Kota Police station, Balasubrmanya, ASI of Udupi DAR, head constables Prashanth and Chandrashekar who are absconding.
Kota Police sub-inspector Nityananda Gowda had come to know from reliable sources during the early hours of July 12 that illegal cattle was being transported in a lorry that was provided security cover by an escort vehicle. SI Nithyananda Gowda then intercepted the vehicles near Sasthan toll gate and arrested drivers Shivananda, Maruthi Narayan Naik and Zinuddin, and Ganeshan, Hameed C H, and Sameer. The cattle were rescued from the transporters. The police also confiscated a lorry worth Rs 12 Lakh and a Tata Indica car worth Rs 2 Lakh.
During interrogation, the accused confessed that the police personnel were helping them while transporting the cattle in return to bribe.
The arrested Santhosh and Vinod were produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody until July 30.
A case has been registered in Kota Police Station and investigation is on.