Udupi: Four people were arrested on charges of stealing arecanut valued at Rs 5.6 lakh from a plantation in Hadinagadde.The accused are Santosh, 35, from Nooji Baltila village, Kadaba taluk; Shanoor Babulal Nawaz alias Nawaz alias Ghajni, 31, from Kalghatgi taluk, Dharwad district, and currently residing in Bhatkal taluk, Uttara Kannada district; Khwaja alias Mohammad Khwaja, 26, and Mohammad Sadiq alias Sadiq, 27, from Bhatkal taluk, Uttara Kannada district.SP Hariram Shankar said on Monday that all the accused were produced before a court on Saturday, and 455kg of stolen arecanut and a car used for its transport were recovered.Complainant Masood Patel from Hadinagadde in Yadtare village, Byndoor taluk, owns about 60 acres where he cultivates arecanut, coconut, jackfruit, mango, rubber and other crops. Patel alleged that he stored around 200 bags of sun-dried arecanut in plastic sacks, stacked and covered with black plastic inside a godown located in his Hadinagadde plantation.On May 22, around 10am, when he visited the godown, he found that the lock of the iron grill gate at the entrance was broken open. Between May 15 and 22, unknown miscreants broke the lock of the godown and stole all 200 bags of arecanut.A case was registered at the Byndoor police station under Sections 331(3), 331(4), and 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). A special investigation was launched under the guidance of Udupi SP Hariram Shankar and the supervision of additional SP Sudhakar Naik and DySP of Kundapur sub-division HD Kulkarni, with leadership from Byndoor circle inspector Saviithra Tej. Two investigation teams were formed. The investigation was led by PSI Timmesh BN, PSI Naveen Borakar from Byndoor Police Station, PSI Vinay from Kollur Police Station, along with other personnel.
