The veracity of the encounter is yet to be independently established.

The Inspector General of Police for the region A M Prasad said that the incident occurred in the early hours of Friday while the police were carrying out random checks of vehicles on a highway. "The incident occurred near Kaithumbe in the Mangalore rural police station limits after a chase of over 20 km. The car was travelling from Mulki. We have not been able to identify the persons," he said.

Two pistols and a mobile phone were recovered from the Maruti Omni registered in Mangalore in what appeared to be a sanitised crime scene devoid of bullet marks and bloodshed.

The police put out two separate numbers for the people in the car during television interviews, saying that there were three persons out of whom one was killed and also stating that three persons escaped after the encounter. One police official said a seriously injured man was taken to Wenlock Hospital, but did not survive. A body at the hospital morgue was identified as that of the unidentified encounter victim.

Going by the weapons seized from the crime scene, speculations are rife about the attack involving underground elements, especially with linkages in Mumbai and Dubai who have a fairly long association with business affairs in Mangalore.

Mangalore has over the past week been in the grip of national attention over the assault of women in a pub in the city by elements from the Sri Rama Sene, a Right-wing Hindu outfit. The outfit's leader is in judicial custody over the incident that has embarrassed the BJP government in the state on account of its indirect links with the group.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has been caught between balancing Right-wing constituents and anger in civil society over the attack on women. The still unverified linkages between Muttalik and his outfit and the Malegaon blasts and some of the accused in the incident have put the state Government on a sticky wicket in the run up to the parliamentary polls.