Mangaluru, Mar 26: In a twist to the case in which a man had complained that a gang robbed him of Rs 16.2 lakh, police said the investigation revealed that the complainant himself was part of a hawala racket.

Addressing reporters here, city Police Commissioner N Shashi Kumar said the robbery was stage-managed and the probe led to the busting of the racket involving crores of rupees.

Five people have been arrested in this connection and Rs 95,000 in cash, a car and a bike have been seized from them, the Commissioner said.

The Commissioner said Abdul Salam lodged a complaint on March 4 alleging three men waylaid him on February 22.

Inspection of CCTV footage revealed the involvement of four or five men.

Further investigations revealed that Abdul Salam had taken money from a person for hawala transactions and he, along with five or six others, were working as hawala agents.

One of the arrested is said to be the mastermind behind the robbery drama to lay hands on the hawala money.

The complainant Salam is absconding, the Commissioner said, adding that police are on the lookout for a few others wanted in the case.

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Patna (PTI): JD(U) president Nitish Kumar on Monday told party legislators that he will continue to keep a tab on the development work in Bihar despite having given up the chief minister's post a week ago.

Kumar addressed a meeting of the legislative party at 1, Anney Marg, which is the official residence of the chief minister and which the JD(U) supremo, now a Rajya Sabha MP, had occupied for nearly two decades.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, JD(U) MLC and spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said, "Our party leader has said that except for sessions of Parliament, which would require his presence in Delhi, he will spend his maximum time in Bihar."

"Nitish Kumar told us that he will ensure that the good work done while he was in power continues under the new government, in which the JD(U) is an important partner. To keep a tab, he will tour the state in due course," Neeraj Kumar said.

The JD(U) spokesperson was asked about speculations that the meeting had been convened to decide on the role to be assigned to Nishant, the party supremo's son, who joined the JD(U) last month, but has declined to accept a ministerial berth in the Samrat Choudhary government.

"There is no confusion about the role of Nishant, who has been accepted by the party as the leader of the future. In any case, there was no discussion on him today," Neeraj Kumar said.

Nitish Kumar has been authorised by the legislators to decide on choosing the legislative party leader, he added.

Among those present at the meeting were Union minister and former JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan' and Deputy Chief Ministers Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav.

Interestingly, don turned politician Anant Kumar Singh, who represents Mokama assembly seat, claimed after the meeting that MLAs were asked by the supreme leader to try and win "200 seats in the next elections".

"Nitish Kumar ji told us that he will now be more easily available for party workers and general public. He also said that he will extensively tour the state and asked us to work hard so that the party wins 200 seats in the next elections", said Singh, who is often in news for putting his foot in the mouth.

The Bihar assembly is 243-strong and the JD(U)'s current tally is 85, four less than ally BJP, which is the single largest party.

The JD(U)'s best-ever performance was in 2010, when it had contested 142 seats and won 115 of these. It was also the highest tally for any single party since Bihar's truncation in 2000, until when Jharkhand was part of the state and assembly had 324 seats.