Restaurateur shot dead in robbery

DUNGUN: The owner of a restaurant has been found dead with gunshot wounds in front of his nasi kukus shop.

The blood-soaked body of Mohd Lutpi Mansor, 50, who owned five such outlets around the state, was stumbled upon by someone who then alerted the police at 7.30am yesterday.

Mohd Lutpi’s wallet and 4WD car were missing.

Initially, he was thought to have died of stab wounds but the post-mortem results in the evening showed that he had died of gunshot wounds.

Classified by police as a murder-cum-robbery case, Terengganu CID chief ACP K. Manoharan said:

“Initial investigations revealed two wounds on the victim’s body; one on his chest and one on his left shoulder.”

He said Mohd Lutpi’s wife had told police that the victim’s usual routine was to leave home at 4.30am for morning prayers. He would later carry out banking matters.

The restaurant owner, he said, lived in the shophouse above his restaurant in Paka.

ACP Manoharan said police discovered that his wallet was missing although a small bundle of money was left untouched in the shirt pocket.

It has not been ascertained whether the cash was from the restaurant’s earnings which Mohd Lutpi meant to bank in that morning.

His car was missing from the spot where he parked it the night before.

Police are seeking the help of the public to locate the black Toyota Hilux with the registration number CCL 5445.

“We believe the incident occurred at around 4.30am before the victim performed his morning routine. We think more than one suspect was involved in the murder and they sped off with the vehicle after the attack,” said ACP Manoharan.

Mohd Lutpi’s wife Nor Zudawati Omar, 25, said her husband would usually inform her before leaving the house but he did not do so yesterday.

“It was around 7.30am that I found out that my husband was sprawled dead outside the shop,” said Nor Zudawati, when met at her home yesterday.

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