8 held in Karnataka for kidnap, revenge murder of Tiktok star ‘Smile’ Naveen

Investigations by the Mysuru city police of the kidnapping and a parallel probe by the Nanjangud rural police into a case lodged after a body was found in an irrigation water channel at the Gollur village in Nanjangud, outside Mysuru, on the evening of August 28 led to the identification of the body as Naveen.

According to the police investigation, Naveen’s murder was carried out in retaliation of a June 2020 murder of Vinod Kumar, 32, the nephew of a Bengaluru city councillor A Somashekhar in the Kaggalipura region of the Ramanagar district on the outskirts of Bengaluru over a real estate dispute.

Naveen was among the 13 people arrested by the Ramanagara police for the murder of Kumar, who was killed in front of his two sisters.

According to the police, one of the main suspects in the kidnapping and murder of Naveen has been identified as Paramesh alias Parami, a history sheeter and a business partner of realtor Vinod Kumar who was killed in 2020 by a gang featuring Naveen.

Deputy superintendent of police of the Nanjangud region V Govindaraju said, “Eight persons have been arrested. The main accused Paramesh is yet to be arrested. Puneeth Kumar alias Kariya and seven others involved in the kidnapping and murder have been arrested.”

The police had initially picked up clues about the kidnapping from the CCTV footage near Mysuru Palace which revealed that Naveen was trying to resist being driven away in a Santro car while a Scorpio SUV was following it closely.

The police also picked up clues about the suspects from Kumar, Naveen’s associate. Kumar was also kidnapped but was released by the gang. According to the police, after the Nanjangud rural police sent out images of the body found in the irrigation water channel, Kumar recognised it as Naveen.

The police probe has also revealed that one of the girls, who were shooting the reel along with Naveen, revealed his location to the rival gang and soon, they arrived at the scene to kidnap him.

Witnesses reportedly told the police that they heard Naveen pleading with the kidnappers saying “Please Parami brother, I was not involved”.

The murder case is being taken over by the Mysuru city police since the kidnapping took place in the city. “A case of kidnapping had been registered at the Devaraja police station,” Mysuru police commissioner Ramesh Bhanot said.