The officials seized several electronic gadgets and documents during the searches at the houses of Abdul Nasir and Abdul Rahman.
Slain BJP activist Praveen Nettaru. (Supplied)
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths conducted extensive searches at the houses of three absconding suspects in the murder case of Praveen Nettaru — a member of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP — in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka last year.
According to a statement by the NIA on Wednesday, 28 June, the raids were conducted at two locations in Kodagu and one in Dakshina Kannada on Tuesday.
The officials seized several electronic gadgets and documents during the searches at the houses of Abdul Nasir and Abdul Rahman in the Kodagu district and Naushad in Dakshina Kannada.
The three persons whose homes were searched are suspected of harbouring the main assailants in the Praveen Nettaru murder, at various hideouts across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Besides the trio, five other accused are still absconding in the case, which NIA had taken over in August 2022, the release said.
A total of 21 persons, including the fugitives, have so far been named in the charge sheet by NIA under various sections of UAPA, IPC and the Arms Act.
The now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI), to which the accused are said to have belonged, had been indulging in such targeted “hate killings” with the aim of driving a communal wedge and spreading communal hatred; efforts to track down the absconding accused are continuing, the release said.
Meanwhile, the NIA officials and Sullia police personnel have warned that the houses of the absconding persons in the case will be attached if they do not surrender before 30 June.
Police personnel announced on loudspeakers in vehicles at Sullia town on Wednesday that the houses of the accused in the Praveen Nettaru murder case would be seized if they did not surrender before 30 June.
They have also promised cash gifts to those who provide clues about the accused’s whereabouts.
Sources said the NIA officials and police personnel had visited accused Ummar Farooq’s house at Kallumuttu in Sullia and another accused Mustafa’s house on Tuesday to paste the court notices outside both the residences.
Praveen Nettaru (31), was a leader of the youth wing of the BJP in Sullia taluk of Dakshina Kannada district in Coastal Karnataka.
He was murdered in Bellare town on July 26, 2022, allegedly by members of the PFI.
The BJP’s Karnataka unit attacked the newly-elected Congress government in a social media post after Nettaru’s wife, Nutana Kumari, who had been given a job on compassionate grounds by the Basavaraj Bommai government, was removed from the post.
Officials said this was done as per the normal course with special appointments done by the previous government.
“Praveen Nettaru was killed by members of the PFI, a terrorist organisation nurtured by the Congress that spreads communal hatred. His wife was given a job by our government in the Deputy Commissioner’s Office in Mangaluru on compassionate grounds,” the BJP said.
“That the Congress government has begun using its politics of hatred is condemnable. We demand the government to immediately withdraw the inhuman dismissal order,” the state BJP posted on its official Twitter handle.
However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had Nettaru’s wife reinstated in her position as a special case.
“Considering this as a special case, Nutana Kumari will be re-appointed on humanitarian grounds,” said Siddaramaiah.
(With PTI inputs)
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