Mangaluru (TOI): Reluctant, in a state of denial fearing for their lives, realtors of the city are now opening to extortion threats they received from the underworld. The recent arrest of Muthappa Rai accused of engineering many such calls has emboldened them and given the realtors in this coastal city a sense that their days of getting VOIP calls for 'protection' money is over. And they expressed this in clear and no uncertain terms in thanking men in khaki for giving them this sense.
Admitting that they got extortion related calls, realtors K C Nayak and Lokanath Shetty said the intensity of these calls has tapered off with arrest of Raja. Crediting former top cop Gopal Hosur, and senior officers R Hithendra, Pratap Reddy and officers such as H N Venkatesh Prasanna, Valentine D'Souza for this turn around, Nayak said it is heartening that even the present city police chief M Chandra Sekhar and IGP (Western Range) Amrit Paul have kept up the heat.
Hitherto, builders shunned calls from unlisted numbers and were even reluctant to come on record before the media that the underworld had targeted them. Even senior police officers who served here in the past and who came with firm determination of pinning and ending the underworld were exasperated at the near state of denial and reluctance of the realtors to come out in open and lodge a complaint. It is only when the realtors were fired up on, did police get a chance to operate.
Nayak in a written statement said it was not just the realtors, but other businessmen and their families too who were under threat from these dons and it was nightmare. The building fraternity kept in close contact with the police and provided necessary information and footage of incidents involving these elements to police. Nayak said efforts of above mentioned officers sends a direct message to all underworld dons that they can't be a winner and law and order will prevail.
