Mangaluru : The Central Crime Branch Police arrested six alleged associates of underworld operative Vikki Shetty on Thursday.

The CCB Police made the arrests near Marakada village where they were allegedly planning a dacoity.

“They were planning a major dacoity. We are yet to establish what that is,” Police Commissioner M. Chandra Sekhar said.

The CCB Police have recovered from them six mobile phones, four swords, among others.

He gave the names of the arrested persons as Gaurish (26), Jayesh (23), Naveen Shetty (34), Praveen Kumar (26), Harshith (22) and Guruprasad (30).

In another case, the CCB Police arrested Sachin Gowda (31) and Pawan Shetty (21) near the KSRTC bus stand and recovered two mobile phones, a country-made pistol and five live bullets.

Mr. Chandra Sekhar said that all the six Vikki Shetty-associates were part of one group. The police are investigating what they were doing at the time of their arrest.

Gaurish is an accused in the murder of Vikki, who had criminal antecedents, in the Ullal Police Station limits in October 2015. Jayesh, Naveen and Praveen are accused in the murder of Pachhu alias Prashant near the Mangala Bar in Valencia in April 2013.

Mr. Chandra Sekhar said that the police were investigating how the country-made pistol, which was usually made in Uttar Pradesh, came into their possession. They were also looking at whether these six were working as per the directions of Akashbhavan Sharan, an alleged associate of Vikki Shetty lodged in the Ballari Central Prison.

Mr. Chandra Sekhar lauded the efforts of the CCB Police in keeping a close tab on the movement of those who had links with underworld operatives and arresting them. He appreciated the work of Deputy Commissioners of Police Shantaraju and Sanjeev Patil for coordinating the operations that led to the arrest of the six accused persons.