NIA: PFI killer squad murdered BJP youth leader in Karnataka

A member of the BJP Yuva Morcha district committee, Nettaru was hacked to death by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Bellare village in the coastal Dakshina Kannada district on July 26 last year.

Praveen Nettaru. (File)

3 min readNew DelhiJan 21, 2023 03:49 PM IST First published on: Jan 21, 2023 at 05:30 AM IST

Karnataka BJP youth leader Praveen Nettaru was murdered by the “killer squad” of the Popular Front of India (PFI) as part of a plan to create terror among members of a “specific community” and further its agenda of “establishing Islamic rule by 2047”, the NIA has told a special court while chargesheeting 18 people in the case.

A member of the BJP Yuva Morcha district committee, Nettaru was hacked to death by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Bellare village in the coastal Dakshina Kannada district on July 26 last year. The case was initially investigated by Karnataka police but later transferred to the NIA.

“Investigations revealed that the PFI, as part of its agenda to create terror, communal hatred and unrest in society and to further its agenda of establishing Islamic rule by 2047, formed secret teams called Service Teams or Killer Squads to carry out killings of its ‘perceived enemies’ and targets,” the chargesheet has said.

According to the chargesheet, filed under various provisions of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), these ‘Service Team’ members were given arms and ammunition apart from training in how to conduct attacks. They were also allegedly trained in surveillance techniques in order to identify, list out and to conduct reconnaissance or follow certain individuals and leaders “belonging to certain communities and groups”.

“These Service Team members were further trained to assault/kill identified targets, on the instructions of senior PFI leaders,” the chargesheet has said.

According to the chargesheet, as part of this larger conspiracy, meetings were held in Bengaluru city, Sullia town and Bellare village. Senior PFI leaders allegedly instructed one Mustafa Paichar, the head of district Service Team, to conduct reconnaissance, identify and target a prominent member of a “particular community”.

“As per instructions, four persons were recced and identified and among them, Praveen Nettaru, who was BJP Yuva Morcha, District Committee Member, was assaulted and killed on 26.07.2022 in full public view with lethal weapons to create a terror among the people at large and especially among members of a particular community,” the chargesheet has said.

The NIA has not only cited statements of multiple witnesses in the case but also presented the murder weapon recovered from the accused and the bike used in the attack as evidence.

Those chargesheeted have been identified as Mahammed Shiyab, Abdul Basheer, Riyaz, Mustafa Paichar alias Mahmmad Mustafa, Masud K A, Kodaje Mohammed Sherif, Abubakkar Siddik, Noufal M, Ismail Shafi, K Mahammad Iqbal, Shaheed M, Mahammad Shafeek, Ummar Farook, Abdul Kabeer, Muhammad Ibrahim Sha, Sainul Abid, Shekh Saddam Hussain, Zakiar A, N Abdul Haris, and Thufail M H.

Of these, NIA sources said, Shiyab, Basheer and Riyaz are directly involved in the attack on Nettaru. Among the chargesheeted accused, Mustafa Paichar, Masud K A, Kodaje Mohammed Sherif, Abubakkar Siddik, Ummar Farook M R and Thufail M H are absconding.