BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday charge-sheeted 11 accused arrested in the Suhas Shetty murder case.
The chargesheet was filed before the NIA Special Court, Bengaluru, against the 11 accused. Shetty, a member of the Bajrang Dal, was hacked to death by seven persons on May 1 this year.
The targeted killing was carried out in full public view “to instill fear and spread terror in society”, NIA stated in an official release on Thursday.
The agency, which had taken over the case on the directive of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), “found a larger conspiracy behind the targeted killing”. Investigation revealed that Shetty’s activities were meticulously tracked over several months, and on the fateful day, seven accused trailed his Toyota Innova in two cars.
“The accused caused a deliberate accident with the car driven by Shetty, followed by intentional ramming by another vehicle, thereby blocking all escape routes for him and his friends. Shetty was forced to flee on foot, and was chased and hacked to death by the assailants,” the central counter-terrorism agency added.
“The terror plot was hatched by accused Abdul Safwan alias Kalavaru Safwan alias Chopu Safwan, who is an ex-member of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), along with Niyaz alias Niya, Mohammed Musamir alias Mahamed Musameer alias Mohammad alias Muzammil, Noushad alias Vamanjoor Noushad alias Chotte Noushad alias Chotu.
The latter is a former member of the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) and PFI. Accused Adil Maharoof alias Adil had provided funds which were used to recruit other accused on the promise of payment or by exploiting any previous existing enmity with the victim,” the NIA stated.
The five men, along with Kalandar Shafi alias Mande Shafi, M Nagaraja alias Naga alias Appu, Ranjith, Mahammed Rizwan alias Rijju, Azaruddin alias Azar alias Ajju, and Abdul Khader alias Noufal are named in the chargesheet.
Investigation against another arrested accused, Abdul Razak, is under way.
