The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed a Supplementary Chargesheet against two more accused in the case related to the murder of BJP Yuva Morcha member Praveen Nettaru by cadres of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in Karnataka last year.One of the two accused named in the chargesheet, identified as Thufail M H, who had been absconding was tracked down and arrested by a NIA team in Bengaluru subsequently.
oth the accused, including Thufail M H and Mahammad Jabir, have been charged under various sections of IPC and UA (P) Act, 1967.
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Both the accused, including Thufail M H and Mahammad Jabir, have been charged under various sections of IPC and UA (P) Act, 1967. With this, a total of 21 accused persons have been charge-sheeted in the case.
The murder, which took place on 26th July, 2022 in Bellare village of Sullia Taluk at Dakshina Kannada district, had sent shock waves in the state. Nettaru was killed with sharp weapons, as part of PFI’s agenda to strike terror among members of one community, and create communal hatred and unrest in the society with the aim of furthering its goal of establishing Islamic Rule in India by 2047.
The initial Chargesheet was filed by NIA on 20th January 2023. The NIA had then stated that the PFI had formed secret ‘hit squads’ – ‘Service Teams’ or ‘Killer Squads’ to carry out the killing of its ‘perceived enemies’ and targets.’
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NIA investigations have also revealed that Thufail M H, a resident of Kodagu district, was In-Charge of the PFI ‘Service Teams’ in Kodagu District and also a ‘PFI Master Trainer’ who would regularly impart advanced training, including arms training to the banned outfit’s cadres at the Freedom Community Hall, in neighbouring DK district. He had harboured the three assailants of Praveen Nettaru in Kodagu and Mysuru districts of Karnataka and in Erode district of Tamil Nadu, as per investigations by the NIA.
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NIA investigations have also revealed that Thufail M H, a resident of Kodagu district, was In-Charge of the PFI ‘Service Teams’ in Kodagu District and also a ‘PFI Master Trainer’ who would regularly impart advanced training, including arms training to the banned outfit’s cadres at the Freedom Community Hall, in neighbouring DK district. He had harboured the three assailants of Praveen Nettaru in Kodagu and Mysuru districts of Karnataka and in Erode district of Tamil Nadu, as per investigations by the NIA.
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The accused Mahammad Jabir was the PFI Puttur District President and had actively participated in the conspiracy meeting where it was decided to recce and murder Praveen Nettaru. He had also made provocative speeches where he had claimed that Masood’s murder will be avenged.
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Further investigations into the case, which was initially registered as FIR number 63/2022 dated 27th July 2022 at Bellare Police Station of Dakshina Kannada district and re-registered by NIA on 4th August 2022, are continuing.
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.
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Home/India News/NIA files supplementary chargesheet against 2 in Praveen Nettaru murder case
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