BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), on Tuesday arrested another absconder - Riyaz Yousaf Haaralli alias Riyaz - in the Praveen Nettaru murder case, from Mumbai airport while he was trying to flee abroad.
With the arrest of Riyaz, the total number of accused arrested in the sensational murder case has gone up to 19. His arrest comes less than a month after the NIA had nabbed absconder Mustafa Paichar along with one of his harbourers Mansoor Pasha, on May 10 from Sakleshpura in Hassan district.
“Riyaz had returned to India on the directions of another absconding accused Abdul Rahman. Along with Pasha, Riyaz had provided logistical support and a safe hideout to Paichar in Sakleshpura,” the NIA stated in an official release on Tuesday.
“Paichar, former secretary and head of the service team of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), was the chief conspirator in the case. He had assembled the hit team that targeted the victim and, after the crime, had absconded with the others,” added the Central agency.
Nettaru, a BJP Yuva Morcha district executive committee member was brutally hacked to death by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Bellare village of Dakshina Kannada district by the PFI cadres in July 2022. The NIA investigations have shown that the attack was aimed at striking terror among a section of people in the society.
The NIA, which had taken over the investigation on August 4, 2022, has so far filed a charge-sheet against 21 accused persons. The agency has launched a manhunt to track the other absconders.