RSS leader Rudresh murder accused brought from Tanzania; arrested by NIA

The accused Ghouse Nayazi, a PFI cadre, was arrested by NIA at Mumbai airport on Friday after he was brought from Dar-e-Salaam, Tanzania, through deportation

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a Popular Front of India (PFI) cadre, Ghouse Nayazi, who was involved in the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader R Rudresh in October 2016 and had fled the country.

NIA said Rudresh’s murder was part of a larger conspiracy.

He was arrested at Mumbai airport on Friday after he was brought from Dar-e-Salaam, Tanzania, through deportation.

Rudresh, a prominent RSS leader of Shivajinagar area of Bengaluru, was hacked to death by four members of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) in Karnataka on October 16, 2016.

A NIA spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy hatched by Nayazi, president of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Hebbal assembly constituency, and one Asim Sheriff.

“The duo had persuaded the other four accused to kill Rudresh with an intention to strike terror among the members of the RSS and the society. The killers were made to believe that the fight against the RSS was a holy war,” the spokesperson said.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) banned the PFI and its eight affiliates — Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala —on September 27, 2022. The ban came days after a crackdown by NIA and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on senior leaders and members of the PFI, in which at least 108 people were arrested.