BJP leader murder case: Tufail gave shelter to accused, part of larger plot, says NIA

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday said that accused Tufail M.H., who was held in Bengaluru in connection with the murder case of BJP youth leader Praveen Nettaru, had allegedly played a significant role in the PFI’s larger conspiracy to murder leaders of a particular community.

The probe agency said that that Tufail, who was held on Saturday night from his hideout in Bengaluru’s Amaruthahalli area, also provided shelter and safe harbour at Ashiyana residency of Koppa village in Mysuru to three assailants who conducted a recce of Nettaru’s movements and then hacked him to death in July last year.

In January, the NIA filed a charge sheeted before special court in Bengaluru, against 20 accused, out of which six, including Tufail, were absconding.

Tufail, who was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head in connection with the murder of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader Nettaru, was also named in an FIR filed at Kushalnagar Rural police station in the Prashanth Poojari murder case) and in an attempt to murder case of VHP leader Ganesh.

Nettaru was murdered by alleged PFI members on July 26 last year in Bellare village in Dakshina Kannada district, “with the intention to strike terror in the society and create fear among the people”, the agencies had said.

The state police had lodged a case and was looking into the matter but later on the Union Ministry of Home Affairs handed over the probe 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. These Service Team members were given arms as well attack training, and training in surveillance techniques in order to identify, list out and to mount surveillance on leaders belonging to certain communities and groups. These Service Team members were further trained to kill identified targets, on the instructions of senior PFI leaders,” the NIA has said.

The charge sheet says that meetings of the PFI members and leaders were held at Bengaluru, Sullia town, and Bellare village. The head of District Service Team, Mustafa Paichar was instructed to recce, identify and target a prominent member of a particular community.

The PFI members as per instructions, recced and identified four persons and among them was Nettaru, who was killed him in full public view to create terror among the people at large and especially among the members of a particular community.

The accused Mahammed Shiyab, Abdul Basheer, Riyaz, Mustafa Paichar, Masud K.A., Kodaje Mohammed Sherif, Abubakkar Siddik, Noufal M., Ismail Shafi K., K. Mahammad Iqbal, Shaheed M., Mahammad Shafeek G., Ummar Farook M.R., Abdul Kabeer C.A., Muhammad Ibrahim Sha, Sainul Abid Y., Shekh Saddam Hussain, Zakiar A., N. Abdul Haris and Tufail M.H. were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the Arms Act.

Among the accused, Paichar, Masud K.A., Kodaje Mohammed Sherif, Abubakkar Siddik, Ummar Farook M.R. and Thufail were currently absconding and rewards had been declared for information leading to their arrest.

–IANS