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Praveen Nettaru murder case: NIA raids over 30 locations connected to accused
A senior Dakshina Kannada police officer said that the NIA raids were part of the evidence collection in the Praveen murder case. “The raids are part of evidence collection and getting more details for the charge sheet. So far, no arrests or detentions have been made following these raids,” the officer said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday carried out raids at more than 30 locations in Mangaluru in connection with the Praveen Nettaru murder case, officials said.
The NIA conducted raids in Sullia, Bellare, Puttur, Uppinangady, Vitla and surrounding places on Tuesday morning. Buildings owned by Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) leaders and the premises of relatives of 10 youths accused in the murder case were raided, officials added.
A senior Dakshina Kannada police officer said that the raids were part of the evidence collection in the Praveen murder case. “The raids are part of evidence collection and getting more details for the charge sheet. So far, no arrests or detentions have been made following these raids,” the officer said.
On July 26, Three people came in a vehicle and hacked Nettaru to death outside his chicken shop off the Puttur-Sullia Road at Bellare in Mangaluru.
On July 28, the police arrested 29-year-old Zakir of Savanoor and 27-year-old Shafiq of Bellare, followed by arrests of 32-year-old Saddam and 42-year-old Haris, both hailing from Pallimajalu in Bellare, on August 2.
All these four were said to be in contact with the assailants, police said.
On August 7, the police arrested 22-year-old Abid of Sullia and 28-year-old Naufal of Bellare, who was said to be part of the planning and recce team.
On August 10, NIA officially took over the probe. The NIA has obtained the custody of five key accused in the case for six days, said the official.
The NIA approached the special court on August 10 for custody of the accused till August 23 after the state police completed custodial investigations on August 16. The current raids are a follow-up to the interrogation of the suspects in the suspects in custody, said the officer.
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.
A police officer, who was part of the investigation, said that the gang had identified three targets initially. One of the reasons for selecting Praveen as a target was that he was popular following his political works during the anti-halal campaign, said the officer. “As per our investigation, we found they had identified three targets. The attack was a retaliation to the murder of a Muslim youth Masood. Their requirement for selecting the target was that he should be a local and a prominent leader in the local politics,” he said.
“The accused were eager to attack, and they thought that Praveen would be the easiest among the three to attack,” the officer said.
One of the earlier arrested accused Mohammed Shafiq (27) who was nabbed from Bellare village on July 28 and is one of the conspirators in the case, had helped in identifying Nettaru as a target, police said. “Shafiq’s father Ibrahim used to work for Nettaru at his chicken shop. He worked there for more than a year. However, when coastal Karnataka was rocked by controversy over halal meat, Nettaru fired Ibrahim from the job five months ago,” said the officer.
In March this year, Hindu Janajagrithi Samithi, a right-wing organisation in Karnataka called for a campaign against the purchase of halal meat as it is “culled under Islamic practices and cannot be offered to Hindu gods”.
Since Shafiq knew Nettaru, he was able to provide accurate information about his whereabouts and helped in conducting a recce of the area, said the police.
