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Nettaru murder case: NIA announces cash reward for info on 4 accused
Nettaru,32, was hacked to death on July 26 when he was about to return home after closing his chicken stall at Bellare in Sullia taluk of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha leader Praveen Nettaru, on Wednesday announced cash rewards for information on four accused, suspected to be members of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), according to a press statement.
Nettaru,32, was hacked to death on July 26 when he was about to return home after closing his chicken stall at Bellare in Sullia taluk of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.
The NIA has declared to award ₹5 lakh each for information on accused Mohammad Mustafa S of Bellare and Tufail M H of Madikeri. The central agency has also declared ₹2 lakh for informers on the other two accused Umar Farooque M R of Sullia and Aboobaker Siddik of Bellare.
In a press release, the NIA said: “People who have information on the four men may contact the NIA office at Sir M Visvesvaraya Centre, Sir Visvesvaraya Kendriya Bhawan, Domlur, Bengaluru. They may call on telephone number 080-29510900 or mobile phone number 8904241100. They may also mail to email id: info.blrnia@gov.in.”
The NIA officially took over the probe in Nettaru murder case on August 10. The NIA has obtained the custody of five key accused in the case for six days, said an official familiar with the matter, asking not to be named.
The NIA had approached the special court on August 10 seeking the custody of the accused after the state police completed custodial investigations on August 16. The accused taken into custody have been identified as Naufal (28), Sainul Abid (22), Mohammed Syed (32), Abdul Basheer (29) and Riyaz (27). Bellare police in Sullia had registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the murder. The case was later transferred to NIA.
Karnataka police had found that one of the suspects, Shiyab, is the main conspirator and main attacker.
Police said apart from Nettaru, the gang had identified two others as potential targets, but zeroed in on him because he roamed around without associates, unlike the other targets.
Since one of the accused knew Nettaru, he was able to provide accurate information about his whereabouts and helped in conducting recce of the area, the police had said earlier.The officer said that the murder was executed after considerable planning.
An officer in the know of the development said that the four men listed by NIA are wanted for their role in planning the murder.
“During the investigation, it was found that Nettaru’s murder was a retaliation to the killing of a Muslim man identified as Masood (19). While those who have been arrested were behind the murder, the PFI workers were behind the conspiracy and provided other support,” said the officer.
The gang behind the murder had identified at least three targets, including Nettaru, to take revenge on the killing of Masood, a daily-wage earner from Kasaragod in Kerala who was staying with his grandfather in Bellare, said a senior officer who was part of the probe into the Nettaru murder.
On September 7, the NIA had conducted searches at multiple locations in Karnataka in connection with the case, The NIA carried out searches at 33 locations in three districts of the state. “During these raids information about a larger conspiracy has surfaced and four accused have been missing since then,” the officer citied above added.
