Key accused in Nettaru murder case arrested in Bengaluru: NIA

NIA has arrested MH Tuffail, the prime accused in the murder of BJP youth wing leader Praveen Nettaru, from Dasaralli in Bengaluru

Mysuru: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a prime accused in connection with the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing leader Praveen Nettaru, from Dasaralli in Bengaluru, officials said on Sunday.

BJP Yuva Morcha leader Praveen Nettaru who hacked to death at Bellare in Dakshina Kannada district on July 26 last year. (ANI)

The accused was identified as MH Tuffail, a resident of Madikeri in Karnataka’s Kodagu district and a member of the “killer squad” of now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI). Tuffail was arrested from his hideout at Dasaralli under the Amruthalli police station limits late on Saturday night, a senior NIA officer said.

“Our teams have been searching for the accused in Kerala, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu and other places since months,’’ the senior officer said, requesting anonymity. “NIA had announced a reward of ₹5 lakh for information about Tuffail.”

Praveen Nettaru (32), a zilla BJP Yuva Morcha committee member, was hacked to death by motorbike-borne assailants at Bellare in Dakshina Kannada district on July 26, 2022. NIA officers said Tuffail was one of the assailants wanted in the case.

After the incident, NIA arrested 14 accused while six others, including Tuffail, were absconding.

Acting on a tip off about Tuffail’s hideout, a team of the federal anti-terror agency on Saturday night raided an apartment on the second floor of a building at Dasarahalli. NIA officials disguised as plumbers entered the apartment, the senior officer quoted above said. “The accused tried to abscond after he got an idea about the identity of the sleuths, but other officials waiting outside managed to nab the accused.”

The agency was hopeful that the arrest of Tuffail will lead it to the other five absconding accused. “Further investigation in the case is on,” the officer added.

On January 20, the federal agency submitted a charge sheet against 20 accused in connection with the Nettaru murder case to a special NIA court in Bengaluru. In the charge sheet, NIA has claimed that PFI, as part of its “agenda” to “create terror, communal hatred and unrest in the society and to establish Islamic rule by 2047”, formed secret teams called Service Teams or Killer Squads to carry out killings of its “perceived enemies” and targets.

“These Service Team members were given arms as well as attack training and training in surveillance techniques in order to identify, list out and mount surveillance on individuals/leaders belonging to certain communities and groups,” the charge sheet said. “They were further trained to assault/kill identified targets, on the instructions of senior PFI leaders.”

The accused have been booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity on the grounds of religion etc), 302 (murder) and 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Arms Act.

The absconding accused who have been named in the NIA charge sheet are Mustafa Paichar, Masud KA, Kodaje Mohammed Sherif, Abubakkar Siddik and Ummar Farook MR. NIA has declared rewards for information leading to their arrest.