The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday conducted extensive searches at the houses of three absconding suspects in Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts in the case related to the murder of BJP Yuva Morcha member Praveen Nettaru allegedly by the cadres of the Popular Front of India (PFI) (now banned) in Dakshina Kannada last year.
Three locations were searched in the two districts as part of the NIA’s efforts to hunt down the absconders.
The NIA seized several electronic gadgets and documents during the searches at the houses of Abdul Nasir and Abdul Rahaman in Kodagu and Naushad in Dakshina Kannada, the NIA said in a press release on Wednesday.
All three are suspected of harbouring the main assailant of Nettaru at various hideouts in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Besides the trio, five other accused are still absconding in the case, which the NIA took over in August 2022.
A total of 21 persons, including the absconders, have so far been chargesheeted at by the NIA under various sections of the UA(P) Act, IPC, and the Arms Act.
Nettaru was hacked to death on July 26, 2022 at Bellare in Dakshina Kannada allegedly by the PFI ‘killer squads’ or ‘service teams’. The PFI has been indulging in such targetted ‘hate killings’ with the aim of driving a communal wedge and spreading communal hatred with its ultimate objective of establishing an Islamic Rule in India by 2047, the NIA said.
Efforts to track down the absconding accused are continuing, the release tweeted by the NIA said.
