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A contractor and former president of the Mudarangadi Gram Panchayat, David D’Souza, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Pilar on August 7, making it the second shooting in Udupi district in a week.
D’Souza was attacked outside St Francis Xavier Church in Pilar, which comes under the Mudarangadi Gram Panchayat. CCTV footage of the incident, circulating on social media, shows one assailant approaching D’Souza from behind as he was about to get into the driver’s seat of his car.
The assailant is seen hitting D’Souza, causing him to fall. He then shot him at close range before brandishing the weapon to threaten people nearby. The assailant subsequently got onto a motorcycle driven by an accomplice and fled the scene.
D’Souza was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead. The motive for the murder was not immediately known.
Personnel from the jurisdictional Shirva police station and neighbouring Padubidri police station rushed to the scene. The Scene of Crime team and a dog squad were also called in as police began efforts to identify and trace the assailants.
Police later said the shooter was identified as Raju. He was shot in the leg while allegedly trying to escape arrest near Byndoor. According to police, Raju attacked personnel during the operation. Kaup Police Sub-Inspector Tejaswi, who fired the shot, was also injured.
The shooting comes eight days after another man was shot dead in Udupi district.
On July 31, 45-year-old businessman Ivan Richard Mascarenhas alias Munna was shot dead in front of a church in Kundapur. Mascarenhas, who hailed from Hebri, was living in a rented house in Kachur, Barkur.
Udupi Superintendent of Police Hariram Shankar said that 55-year-old Derek Crasta, who runs a prawn business in Kannadakudru in Hemmady, allegedly opened fire at Mascarenhas following a dispute over money.
According to a complaint filed by a woman who was with Mascarenhas at the time and witnessed the shooting, there had been an earlier altercation between Crasta and Mascarenhas over pending payments related to prawn supplies and other financial dealings.
The complaint stated that Crasta had challenged Mascarenhas to come alone to Kundapur and had sent him a location. Mascarenhas, however, travelled to the location in a car with the woman, with whom he had reportedly been living for seven years.
At around 3.15 am, the two stopped their car in front of a church. Crasta allegedly arrived in another car. When Mascarenhas stepped out, Crasta allegedly opened fire, hitting him below the waist and in the leg, before fleeing the scene.
