NIA nabs key absconder in Praveen Nettaru murder case

MANGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), with the help of sister agencies from Karnataka,
has on Friday nabbed a key absconder, who was affiliated with the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), for the gruesome murder of Praveen Nettaru in July 2022.

Accused Mustafa Paichar, who carried a reward of Rs 7 lakh and had non-bailable warrants against him, is the second absconding accused to be arrested in the case. The NIA had in January 2023 filed a charge sheet against 21 accused, eight of whom had absconded after the crime.

Praveen Nettaru, a BJP Yuva Morcha district executive committee member, was brutally hacked to death by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Bellare village of Dakshina Kannada district by PFI cadres. The NIA had taken over the investigation on August 4, 2022.

The anti-terror agency had launched a manhunt for the absconders, and on Friday managed to trace Mustafa Paichar to Anemahal in Hassan district. Paichar was arrested along with Mansoor Pasha, who had harboured the former.

The NIA investigations revealed that Paichar, a resident of Sullia in Dakshina Kannada, was the secretary of PFI Puttur district service team. He was involved in imparting arms training to PFI cadres in the Freedom Community Hall in the area to prepare them for commission of terrorist attacks. Along with other accused, he was part of a larger conspiracy to target and kill Hindu leaders. He had, in fact, formed a hit service team of PFI cadres for the purpose. It was on his instructions that the hit service team hacked Praveen Nettaru to death with sharp weapons in a public place. The attack was aimed at striking terror among a section of people in society, the NIA stated in a release adding that investigations are in progress to trace the other absconders.
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