Mangaluru : The Dakshina Kannada police arrested the prime accused in the barbaric attack that took place on July 26 in Belthangady taluk on a Malekudiya tribesman, Sundara Malekudiya.

The police apprehended Gopalakrishna Gowda (67) from a guesthouse in Puttaparthi in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. Gowda, along with three others, had allegedly attacked Sundara with a weed-clearing machine maiming his limbs over a land dispute in Kataje near Neriya.

With the information provided by Gopalakrishna, the police arrested Vasantha Gowda, another accused, from a resort near Gorur in Hassan district on the same night, said Superintendent of Police S.D. Sharanappa. Both the accused were brought to Belthangady police station on Sunday morning.

Mr. Sharanappa congratulated the police team, comprising Sullia Inspector B.S. Satisha, Punjalkatte sub-inspector Lathesh Kumar, constables Harish, Mahesh and Devaraj, for tracing the accused. The personnel would be rewarded, he said.

The police were under tremendous pressure from various quarters to arrest the main accused. While Gowda’s wife Pushpalatha was immediately arrested, Gopalakrishna, Vasantha and Gopalakrishna’s elder sister Damayanthi, for whom Vasantha worked as a driver, were at large. Damayanthi is still at large and the police are confident of nabbing her, Mr. Sharanappa said.

Stating that there was no laxity on part of the police in tracing the accused, Mr. Sharanappa said four teams were formed under Bantwal Assistant SP Rahul Kumar. While the team of Belthangady PI was searching around Chikkamagaluru, Bantwal PI’s team was sent towards Hassan, Puttur PI’s team was covering Madikeri and Sullia PI’s team was in Bengaluru. On a tip-off, Mr. Satish and his team learnt that Gopalakrishna was in Puttaparthi and immediately went there on Saturday. He was in and around Bengaluru for about a fortnight, Mr. Sharanappa said.

Mr. Sundara is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mangaluru.