KS Sreenivasan murder case: NIA arrests key suspect

Kochi: NIA arrested one of the main assailants in the KS Sreenivasan murder case on Friday. The arrested person was on the run for the past three years after the 2022 murder allegedly orchestrated by the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI).According to NIA, the individual is Manjeri resident Shamnad E K, alias Shamnad Illikkal. He was carrying a reward of Rs 7 lakh for information leading to his arrest. He was nabbed from Karukapally in Kochi by NIA's Absconder Tracking Team.Agency sources said Shamnad was under PFI protection and was living under a concealed identity since Sreenivasan's murder. The agency stated that NIA investigations in the case, registered in Sept 2022, revealed that the murder conspiracy was allegedly hatched by PFI leaders and cadres aiming to create a communal divide. NIA has so far chargesheeted 63 accused as part of its ongoing investigations in the case.According to sources, NIA has taken six persons into custody and interrogated them at the Kochi office. Shamnad was the second accused in the case and was directly involved in the murder. He was allegedly part of a hit squad of PFI. NIA launched an operation to track him down after receiving an alert about his return to Manjeri. He was finally traced to in Kochi. Sources said those taken into custody were SDPI workers in Manjeri. They are under probe for alleged involvement in assisting the absconding accused.Shamnad was produced before NIA court in Kochi on Friday evening and remanded in judicial custody. Sreenivasan was murdered on April 16, 2022, at Melamuri Junction. TNN