BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency has stated that the motive of accused persons in the Harsha murder case “appears to be striking terror in society and creating communal disharmony by using lethal weapon”, in the First Information Report (FIR) (RC-10/2022/NIA/DLI) against the 10 accused in Bajrang Dal activist Harsha Nagaraj’s murder case.
Harsha was hacked to death on February 20 near Kamath Petrol Pump in Shivamogga. “The Central Government is of the opinion that a Scheduled Offence under the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008, has been committed, and having regard to the gravity of the offence and its ramifications on national security, it is required to be investigated by the National Investigation Agency in accordance with the National Investigation Agency Act,” the Central counter-terrorism agency added.
The Shivamogga police arrested 10 accused – Rihan Sharief (A1), Mohd Khasif (A2), Asifullah Khan (A3), Abdul Afaan (A4), Nihal (A5), Abdul Khader Jilan (A6), Abdul Roshan (A7), Faraz Pasha (A8), Syed Nadeem (A9) and Jaffar Sadiq (A10). The latter is Jilan’s father.
According to sources, A1 to A5 had attacked Harsha while A6 drove the vehicle in which the assassins were travelling; A7 had helped in getting the weapons and A8 had tracked Harsha that fatal evening, when he was brutally hacked to death near Kamath Petrol Pump on NT Road in Shivamogga.
Harsha’s murder was a “well-planned and orchestrated attack” by the accused, who had long wanted to net him, said sources.