BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting search operations at 16 locations across Karnataka in the Praveen Nettaru murder case. In June this year, the agency arrested an absconding accused - Riyaz Yousaf Haaralli alias Riyaz - in the case from Mumbai airport while he was trying to flee abroad.
Riyaz was arrested following the arrest of Mustafa Paichar along with one of his harbourers, Mansoor Pasha on May 10 from Sakleshpura in Hassan district.
“Riyaz had returned to India from abroad on the directions of absconding accused Abdul Rahman. Along with Pasha, Riyaz had provided logistical support and a safe hideout to Paichar in Sakleshpura,” the NIA had stated.
“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 along with 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.