The National Investigating Agency (NIA), which is investigating the July 26 murder of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Praveen Nettaru in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district, has obtained the custody of five key accused in the case for six days. The NIA approached a special court on Thursday, August 18, for custody of the accused till August 23 after the State police completed custodial investigations on August 16, officials said.
The accused taken into custody are Naufal (28), Sainul Abid (22), Mohammed Syed (32), Abdul Basheer (29) and Riyaz (27). The accused had fled to Kerala after committing the crime, a police officer told Hindustan Times, adding that the accused were nabbed while they were on the run. A total of 10 persons have been arrested for the murder of Praveen, the police are probing their links to the Popular Front of India (PFI). The Ministry of Home Affairs had ordered the NIA to probe the case, and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai later clarified that the case would only be transferred to the agency after a preliminary probe by the Karnataka police.
Praveen was hacked to death on July 26 by bike-borne assailants in Dakshina Kannada’s Sullia taluk. The attack came close on the heels of the murder of an 18-year-old man named Masood in nearby Kalanja village, for rearing a calf. The day after Praveen’s murder, on July 28, a man named Fazil was hacked to death in Surathkal, in retaliation to the attack on Praveen. Police said that Fazil’s murder was pre-planned, and that the accused were surveilling him before killing him. Seven people have been arrested in connection with Fazil’s death so far.
The back-to-back murders caused a tense situation in Dakshina Kannada, with police clamping prohibitory orders in the district. Controversy erupted after Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai visited only Praveen’s family after he was killed, and the Chief Minister visited the families of Masood and Fazil only later. Further, he offered Rs 25 lakh compensation to Praveen’s family, and not to the kin of the other victims.
With PTI inputs