MANGALURU: National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths have arrested two absconding accused in connection with the gruesome murder of BJP worker Praveen Nettaru.
The arrested have been identified as Naushad (32), son of Hameed from Poyyagudde in Padangady village in Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada and Abdul Naseer (41), son of Ibrahim from Somwarpet in Kodagu.
Naushad was arrested in Bengaluru while Naseer was reportedly arrested in Cochin, said sources. It is learnt that Naushad had driven the vehicle aiding the main accused to flee from the spot.
The NIA had announced a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh for credible information leading to the arrest of these two absconding suspects. With this, total arrests in the Nettaru murder case rose to 23.
Praveen Nettaru, a BJP Yuva Morcha district executive committee member, was brutally hacked to death by two motorcycle-borne assailants at Bellare village of Dakshina Kannada district by cadres of Popular Front of India (PFI) in July 2022. The NIA had taken over the investigation of this case from Dakshina Kannada police on August 4, 2022.