Udupi: The wife and son of Bhaskar Shetty, from the coastal Karnataka town of Udupi were arrested on Sunday in connection with his disappearance. It is said that they have reportedly admitted to police, that they killed the hotelier, in connivance with a local astrologer, in order to grab his property estimated to be worth Crores. But so far, the police have not recovered Shetty’s body.
People in Udupi have also stated that Bhaskar Shetty went missing for 10 days last year and surfaced thereafter.

Meanwhile, when newskarnataka.com went around Udupi and Manipal town on fact-finding, two important angles to the murder case have emerged, which the locals say the police have failed to look into yet.

The rise of Shetty was nothing short of a Bollywood flick. A man born in extreme poverty, living on a mere five cent government land, educated till about 8th standard is today believed to be the owner of Rs 200 crore.

While Bhasker Shetty flourished in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, another man, here in Udipi, flourished, and that is no blood relative of Bhasker Shetty. It was none other than his co-brother, husband of older sister of Rajeshwari.

Said to be an auto driver in the past, each and every auto driver in Udupi town has a tale to narrate about this co-brother, the Shetty Senior.

They say, Bhasker Shetty used to pump in a lot of money from Saudi Arabia to Udupi and all of this fortune was handled by Shetty senior. Hotel Durga International and several other businesses were all brain-child of Shetty Senior, who meticulously planned investments. However, with suspicion arising that Bhasker Shetty’s hard earned money was being used by Shetty senior for his personal gains, the two Shettys- Shetty Senior and Bhasker Shetty developed animosity and in an ensuing bitter fight the two fell apart and all that Shetty senior created utilising Bhasker Shetty money slipped out of his hand like loose sand.

Rajeshwari Shetty has four siblings and they were a very closely knit family. But, the fight jeopardised the sisters as many say Rajeshwari was singled out while the four sisters remained united on the other side. Soon, Rajeshwari, who had returned to Udupi from Saudi Arabia by this time took to helm of affairs of the business establishments that almost came to her on a platter.

Could there have been a vengeance factor behind the case?

Family in sheer poverty

A look at Bhasker Shetty’s house in Subhashnagar and a look at his family members speak volumes about their financial condition. When son minted crores of rupees in Saudi Arabia, his mother and siblings continued to live in condition nothing short of poverty, say locals of Subhashnagar, where the family lives.

The only question that most locals who have closely interacted with Shetty and many who had even seen him as a young man leaving to Saudi Arabia to try his luck say that despite having earned in crores, not much of his earning ever came to his mother. While Bhasker Shetty built a house worth crores of rupees in Indrali (the same house where he was reportedly hacked to death), his own mother lived in a small house on government land. Her conditions remained unchanged despite son’s shining destiny.  As per police, on the day Bhasker Shetty’s mother filed a complaint with the police, instead of waiting for investigations to begin, she insisted that her daughter in-law and grandson be nabbed immediately.

As per a close friend of Bhasker Shetty, the new house at Indrali was named ‘Eshwari’ and not ‘Rajeshwari’ only because Bhasker Shetty wanted to appease his family. When this friend had raised the question as to why the house was not named Rajeshwari, he is said to have given a straight reply: “My family feels I am showered all my wealth on her, now if I name the house after her it would only give more room for them to attack me,” he had said. Even the housing ceremony supposedly was a personal affair with neither Bhasker Shetty nor Rajeshwari’s close relatives having shown up. Could there be chances of jealousy having played up?