The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against 20 members of the banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) for murdering Karnataka BJP Youth leader Praveen Nettaru in July last year. The NIA informed a special court that Nettaru was murdered by a killer squad of the PFI as part of its plan to instil terror into a “specific community” (Hindus) and further their agenda of “Islamic rule in India by 2047.”
On July 26, 2022, a Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha (BJYM) worker Praveen Nettaru was hacked to death by unidentified assailants. Late evening, the killers came on a bike to Bellari, Dakshina Kannada of Karnataka, and attacked Nettaru with sharp weapons. Praveen Nettaru, who ran a poultry business, was returning home when the attack happened. The assailants escaped after the attack. The Hindu leader was rushed to the hospital, but he could not be saved.
The case was initially registered as FIR no. 63/2022 dated 27.07.2022, at Bellare Police Station of Dakshina Kannada District and re-registered by NIA on 04.08.2022.
The NIA also stated that the PFI had formed covert units known as “Service Teams” or “Killer Squads” to carry out the murder of its “perceived enemies” and targets in an effort to advance its agenda of converting India into an Islamic nation by 2047.
“Investigations found that the PFI formed secret teams called Service Teams or Killer Squads to carry out killings of its ‘perceived enemies’ and targets,” the NIA chargesheet has stated. “This was done as part of its agenda to cause terror, communal hatred, and unrest in society and to further its agenda of establishing Islamic rule by 2047.”
According to the charge sheet, PFI’s secret team or “Service Team” members received weapons, attack training, and training in surveillance techniques in order to locate, list, and mount surveillance on people/leaders associated with particular communities and groups. The trained members of these ‘secret teams’ were then instructed by senior PFI leaders to kill or assault their targets.
Furthermore, the chargesheet mentions that several meetings of PFI members were held in Bengaluru city, Sullia town, and Bellare village as a part of the larger conspiracy.
The head of the district service team, Mustafa Paichar, received orders from senior PFI leaders to conduct recce, identify, and target a prominent member of a “specific community.”
According to the chargesheet, “four people were recced and identified as per instructions, and among them was Praveen Nettaru, a BJP Yuva Morcha District Committee Member, who was assaulted and killed on July 26, 2022, in full view of the public with lethal weapons to instil fear among the general populace and specifically among members of a particular community.”
The murder weapon that was found on the accused and the bike that was used in the attack were both presented as evidence by the NIA in addition to the statements of multiple witnesses in the case.
The NIA chargesheet names Mahammed Shiyab, A Basheer, Riyaz, M Paichar, Masud KA, Kodaje Mohd Sherif, Abubakkar Siddik, Noufal M, Ismail K, K Iqbal, Shaheed M, Mahd Shafeek G, Ummar Farook M R, Abdul Kabeer CA, Muhd I Sha, Sainul Abid Y, Shekh Hussain, N Abdul Haris and Zakiar A.
“The accused persons have been charge-sheeted under various sections of 120B, 153A, 302 and 34 of IPC and sections 16, 18, and 20 of the UA (P) Act, 1967, Section 25(1)(a) of arms Act,” the NIA press release read.
Mustafa Paichar, Masud KA, Kodaje Mohammed Sherif, Abubakkar Siddik, Ummar Farook MR, and Thufail MH are currently missing among the accused listed on the chargesheet. A cash reward has been declared by the NIA for information about the absconders.