The Mangaluru City police on Tuesday, August 2, arrested six persons allegedly involved in the murder of 22-year-old Mohammed Fazil in Surathkal on July 28.
Police Commissioner N. Shashi Kumar gave names of the arrested persons as Suhan Shetty (29), Mohan alias Mohan Singh (26), Giridhar (23), Abhishek (21), Shrinivas (23) and Deekshit (21).
Mr. Kumar told reporters that Suhan Shetty and a few other arrested persons met on July 26 (the day BJP Yuva Morcha activist Praveen Nettaru was murdered) and made a list of about six persons from a community who had to be killed. On July 27, Shetty met Giridhar and Mohan at a hotel in Surathkal.
Mohan roped in his friends Abhishek, Deekshit and Shrinivas into this task. Mohan then took Giridhar with him to bring the car from his friend, Ajith Crasta — who was arrested on July 31 — by offering the latter ₹15,000 for hiring the car for three days.
Mr. Kumar said the accused zeroed in on Fazil, a temporary cleaner for HPCL Bullet tanker, who has been socially active in the area. They did not proceed with the task on July 27 as three of the accused persons did not turn up.
On July 28 morning, Shetty and a few other accused persons left in the car to Karinja hills in Bantwal and returned to meet other assailants near the district court. In the evening, all six left in the car. They made three rounds of the garment shop where Fazil was standing. Shetty got out of the vehicle along with Mohan and Abhishek and hacked Fazil to death.
All six then left in the car to Inna near Karkala, where they abandoned it. They boarded another car and moved to different places. On Tuesday morning, they were apprehended by the police from a place on the outskirts of Udyavara.
Previous criminal record
Mr. Kumar said Shetty is an accused in a murder and three other criminal cases, while Mohan, Giridhar and Abhishek are accused in two criminal cases each. Shrinivas is an accused in four criminal cases while Deekshit is an accused in three criminal cases. While most of the cases are registered in the city, one case is registered in Belthangady police station.
On the alleged links of the accused to fundamentalist organizations and the motive behind the attack, Mr. Kumar said it will all come out following further questioning of the arrested persons. “We will book all those who have conspired in the murder and those who have harboured the accused.”
Mr. Kumar ruled out reports that Fazil was a mistaken target of the assailants. He also termed as false reports that Fazil was a victim of internal differences among Muslim groups and that the murder was because of his affair with a girl.
