IPS officer Raghavendra Suhas, the former IGP of northern range, which is headquartered in Belagavi, is among those asked to join the probe, police sources said.
In an FIR registered later that night, the police charged three persons in the car – Navaneet Gajanan, 31, a goldsmith; Karunakar Shetty, 46, a driver; and Laxman Poojary, 50, also a driver – under Section 96 of the Karnataka Police Act, 1963 for moving “under suspicious circumstances”.
There was in fact no mention of gold or its disappearance in police documents until April, when a Belagavi court ordered that the car be returned to its owner Tilak Poojary.
He claimed to have petitioned then IGP Raghavendra Suhas, who asked the Belagavi SP to conduct a probe.
He allegedly told Poojary that the car – and the gold – would be returned on payment of Rs 70 lakh bribe, which was later reduced to Rs 30 lakh.