Mysuru: A nearly 500-year-old gold coated antique Quran believed to be from the Mughal period has been seized from a gang that was trying to sell it for Rs five crores in Mysuru.

Police in the Mysuru district seized the ancient Quran while a group of 10 persons were trying to sell it near the Hosa Agrahara Railway station in rural Mysuru on Monday. The Superintendent of Police of the Mysuru district Abhinav Khare said that the 10 persons who were trying to sell the ancient copy of the Islamic holy book, have been arrested.

The Quran that was in the possession of the gang and a car they were using have been seized, Mysuru district SP said. A case has been registered at the Saligrama police station under section 25 of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972 and section 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, SP Khare said. “We are investigating the case to ascertain how the gang got hold of the book,” Khare said.

The ten persons who were arrested have been identified as N Nagaraju, 30, V Murali Krishna, 30,  and Bhaskar M, 31, all residents of Raichur district, Kallappa Kambala, 54 of Kalburgi, Kanakappa Kambala, 40 of Gadag, Sanath, 27 of Udupi, Ravindra, 33 of Kollur, Vijayendra, 30 of Hosanagar, Prasad, 43 of Sagar and Raghavendra, 30 of Siddapur.

The Mysuru district police said that a team was looking for the gang after police recieved credible information that a group of men were trying to find customer to sell a gold coated Quran. Saligrama police sub-inspector S Gangadhar recieved an information around 8 pm on Monday that five members of the group were in a car near the Hosa Agrahara Railway station and were trying to sell the ancient copy of the Quran. He sent two police constables as decoys and the gang demanded Rs five crore to sell the book. The gang was arrested following the arrival of additonal police forces. Five more members of the gang were arrested from Mysuru city.

Police investigation has revealed that the accused did not inform the archeology department about being in possession of the ancient Quran though it is mandatory while holding any type of antique goods. “This 500 year old holy Quran has a total of 302 sheets and 604 pages. All pages are coated with gold,” Mysuru SP Khare said.

Ullala: Police raided a slaughter house in Chembugudde here on the early hours of Wednesday August 12 and seized two dead and 11 live cattle from the spot. The raid was conducted as per the information given by the members of Hindu organisation. Three accused have managed to escape from the site.

This is the third raid during the last seven months by police. The accused brothers M.C Bava and M.C Khader and Imtiaz of Millatnagar in Ullala fled away from the site.

Activists of Kuthar unit of Bajrang Dal, who got information that cattle were being taken to Chembugudde slaughterhouse from the city in a pick-up van, passed on this information to Ullal police. The policemen conducted the raid, but could not stop the accused from running away in time. They took over custody of two dead and 11 live cattle, all of which had been huddled in one pick-up truck.

Fourth raid: M.C Bava runs a slaughter house in his house since many years. He has been arrested many times for this but every time he gets bail and again continues his business. Everytime the police raids a slaughter house the accused manage to flee. Police seize quintols of beef from the spot.

Mangaluru: The suspension order against inspector T. D Nagaraj for allegedly assaulting a lawyer has been revoked and he has been appointed as the incharge of Bajpe police station.

Nagaraj was suspended over the allegation of assaulting lawyer Uttam Rai when the latter had come with a client to Kadri police station where Nagaraj was the inspector. Mangaluru bar association had protested agianst the incident and demanded the suspension and arrest of T.D Nagaraj.

The lawyers had given three days' deadline to the police to arrest Nagaraj. However, Nagaraj was not arrested. Uttam Rai had also filed a case against Nagaraj on several charges and a counter case was also filed.

Mangaluru bar association president Chengappa has condemned the move.

Ullala: A person was thrashed by locals and later handed over to the police for trying to snatch a goldchain from a woman near Koragajjana katte in Kuthar in Ullala police limit on Monday night August 10.

The accused has been ideintified as Abdul Rehman, a resident of Kinya.

It is reported that Shobha Shetty, a resident of Kuthar was walking on the road near Koragajjana Katte. The accused followed her in a bike and when she reached Koragajjana katte he stopped his bike and came close to her and tried to snatch the gold chain from her neck.

As the lady started shouting for help locals rushed to the spot and caught Abdul who was trying to flee from the site. They thrashed him and later handed him over to the police.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka State police have obtained extradition orders against overseas fugitive and underworld don Bannanje Raja, who was arrested by the Morocco police and Interpol in February 2015.

A six-member State police team, led by Bengaluru’s Additional Commissioner of Police (West) C H Pratap Reddy, will fly to Morocco in a couple of days.

Raja will be brought to Karnataka within a week to face trial in various courts, Director General and Inspector General of Police Om Prakash told a press conference on Friday.

The state police had made an extradition request through CBI, Interpol wing, Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Embassy in Morocco. The highest court of Morocco has granted permission. The state government received an official confirmation on August 5, 2015, he said.

“Bannanje Raja alias Rajendra, a native of Malpe in Udupi, is a wanted underworld don. In 2009, a Red Corner Notice was served by Mangaluru police against him and the Interpol had also issued a notice to every country about Raja,” Om Prakash said.

On February 12, 2015, Raja was arrested by the Interpol and Morocco police, based on information provided by the Indian intelligence agencies. Immediately, a provisional request was sent to Moroccan authorities to retain him in their custody. The state police had invoked Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, 2000 (KCOCA) against Raja.

“As there was limited time, we prepared documents relating to three cases booked against Raja. Later we asked the authorities at Morocco to extend time so that we can submit more documents related to other cases. They agreed and granted us 30 days time and we prepared the documents pertaining to 14 major cases. The dossier weighing around 100 kg was sent to the Morocco authorities, requesting his extradition. It was humongous process to translate thousands of documents into English and French,” Om Prakash said.

The proceedings of the extradition were conducted by the highest court of Morocco (Court of Cassation). After verifying the documents, the court granted the extradition request.

Raja had three passports in his possession under different names, Krishna Kumar Kankanadi, Rahim Khaleel and Kumar Raj Hemanth Hegde. The passports were obtained from Mangaluru, Bengaluru and Mumbai. He had flown to Morocco using the passport under the name Hegde, the police said.

Mangaluru: Pandeshwar station police have arrested three persons in connection with separate robbery cases on Wednesday August 5.

The arrested have been identified as Manikanta (21), Ashwin (20) and Prakash N (35). Manikanta and Ashwin are accused in the robbery case of Rs. 10,000 cash and a mobile phone from a construction site. The duo had stolen the cash and the mobile kept near a window of a shed while the one Suraj Kumar was sleeping.

Prakash was a bike thief and had stolen a bike of a evening college student of Aloysius college.

Mangaluru: Mangaluru Central Crime Branch police on Saturday arrested two out of three persons accused of attempt to murder and robbery.

Acting on a tip off, officers headed by Police Inspector Valentine D’Souza arrested Shashi Poojary (23), resident of K.S. Rao Nagar, Mulki, and Dhanraj Poojary (23), resident of Patrakodi, Vamanjoorin the city. The two, along with another, had allegedly attempted to murder Lathish Naik near Alake Market on July 27.

Lathish, along with his friends Indrajit, Siddarth, Pratap and Mithun, was standing near the market. The three accused travelling in a car hit Lathish from behind. The trio later attacked him with swords and other sharp-edged weapons, causing grievous injuries. Indrajith, who tried to intervene, too was injured in the process.

The accused then fled the spot, but had to abandon the car after it developed technical snags. In a bid to escape, they waylaid Nischith, who was on a scooter scooter near Mannagudda, and escaped with his vehicle.

Separate cases were registered in Mangaluru East and Barke police stations following complaints from Lathish and Nischith respectively.Jewellery stolen

A woman, who was travelling by Lokamanya Tilak Express, was robbed of gold jewellery worth Rs. 2.3 lakh in the month of April. According to the police, Vedavati Shetty, from Chembur in Mumbai, had boarded the train in Mumbai at 3.20 p.m. on April 17. She reached Mulki at 6.15 a.m. on April 18.

When she reached home and checked her suitcase, her jewellery was missing. The case, which had earlier been registered in Mulki police station, had been transferred to Manipal police station on July 31.