Mangaluru: The plot to murder 47-year-old Ahmed Bashir, a fast-food joint operator, in Kottara Chowki here on January 3, was hatched in the Manglauru District Prison, said Police Commissioner T.R. Suresh here on Wednesday.

Bashir had been attacked following the murder of BJP activist Deepak Rao at Katipalla earlier on the same day (January 3). The police had arrested six persons in this connection.

Mr. Suresh told presspersons here on Wednesday said that during the questioning of the six people, the police came to know that the plot was hatched by some inmates of the prison. They found evidence showing the involvement of Kalladka Mithun, 28, the prime accused in the assault on Mohammed Hashir in Kalladka on May 27, 2017, that led to communal trouble in Bantwal last year, who is lodged in the prison, Tilak Raj Shetty and Raju alias Rajesh.

Mr. Suresh said Anup Kumar, 30, visited them on January 3 after the news of Rao’s murder.

Then the plot to murder Bashir was hatched, he said.

On the reason for the accused to zero in on Bashir, Mr. Suresh said that the accused simply wanted to murder a person from another community as revenge.

Anup reportedly took the assaulters to Bashir’s outlet in Kottara Chowki on January 3 night, Mr. Suresh said.

The police have now booked Mithun, Shetty and Raju for the murder (of Bashir) and have arrested Anup Kumar. Mr. Suresh said that Mithun, Shetty and Raju are also accused in a case of assaulting fellow jail inmates and prison staff in the Mangaluru Prison on January 8. Following this incident, Mithun was moved to Bengaluru Central Prison, while Shetty was moved to Ballari Central Prison. Raju was moved to Belagavi Central Prison.

Mithun was accused in seven cases of attempt to murder and assault registered in Bantwal. Shetty and Rajesh were accused in a murder case each registered in Kankanady Town police station.

Mr. Suresh said they are searching for few more persons involved in the murder of Bashir.