Mangaluru : The local sessions court on Friday sentenced to life three alleged associates of underworld operative Ravi Poojary for the murder of young advocate Naushad Kashimji in 2009. Two other alleged associates have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

According to the police, Ravi Poojary had assigned the task of eliminating Naushad — who was the advocate for Rashid Malabari, an alleged associate of Dawood Ibrahim — to Dinesh Shetty (30) of Belthangady, who, in turn, entrusted the job to Pratap Shetty (32) and Ritesh Kulal (26), both hailing from Mangaluru.

On the fateful day, while Dinesh Shetty called Naushad on his mobile phone and asked him to come out of his house, Pratap and Ritesh fired at the advocate and then assaulted him, resulting in his death.

The 3rd Additional District and Sessions Judge S.H. Pushpanjali Devi on Friday sentenced to life Dinesh, Pratap and Ritesh on finding them guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy. They were also directed to pay a fine of Rs. 20,000 each.

The judge pronounced seven years imprisonment for Subramanya (30) and Ganesh (34), the other two associates from Mangaluru, for sheltering the others and for hiding material evidence. They were fined Rs. 15,000 each. The total fine amount should be paid to Naushad’s wife. Shivaprakash, who was accused of hiding evidence, and Ravi Sukani of New Delhi.