Shetty was accused in the 2022 murder of 23-year-old Mohammed Fazil, a resident of Mangalwarpete in Katipalla. Fazil was killed in front of a shop in Surathkal, Mangaluru.
Published Jun 08, 2025 | 9:36 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 08, 2025 | 9:36 PM
The Mangaluru police have apprehended eight accused in the Suhas Shetty murder case. (Supplied)
Synopsis: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has transferred the investigation into the murder of rowdy sheeter and former Bajrang Dal leader Suhas Shetty to the National Investigation Agency, citing “national ramifications”. Shetty, who was the prime accused in a 2022 murder, was killed on 1 May near Mangaluru, in coastal Karnataka.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has transferred the investigation into the murder of rowdy sheeter and former Bajrang Dal leader Suhas Shetty to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Shetty, who was the prime accused in the 2022 murder of Mohammed Fazil, was killed on 1 May near Kinnipadavu in Mangaluru’s Bajpe area, in coastal Karnataka.
He was attacked by a group of assailants while travelling by car. Mangaluru police have arrested 11 individuals so far in connection with the killing.
“Having regard to the gravity of the offence, its national ramifications as well as the need to unearth the larger conspiracy, it is required to be investigated by the National Investigation Agency in accordance with the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008,” the MHA order, dated 7 June, reads.
The order directs the NIA to take over the probe under the powers conferred by the NIA Act.
Suhas Shetty was accused in the 2022 murder of 23-year-old Mohammed Fazil, a resident of Mangalwarpete in Katipalla. Fazil was killed in front of a shop in Surathkal, Mangaluru.
Shetty was also accused in the 2020 murder of 20-year-old Keerthi at Devaragudda in Bajpe and of stabbing two others.
Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and several right-wing IT cell supporters were quick to allude to communal motives in the murder, deeming it an attack on Hindutva activists.
However, among those arrested for Suhas’s murder are two Hindu men, busting the communal narrative propped in connection to the case.
On 3 May, Mangaluru police arrested eight accused in the Shetty murder case. The arrested include Abdul Safwan, Niyaz, Mohammed Muzammil, Khalandar Shafi, Adil Mehroof, Nagaraj, Ranjith, and Rizwan.
Police Commissioner Anupam Agarwal said special teams comprising officers from Mangaluru’s Crime and Crime Branch (CCB), North Sub-Division, and Bajpe Police conducted a joint operation to apprehend the accused.
During interrogation, police learned that Abdul Safwan was assaulted in 2023 by Shetty’s associates – Prashath, Ganesh, Yajnesh, Dhanraj, and Puneeth.
Retaliating to threats from Shetty and his group, Safwan allegedly conspired with others to kill Shetty, with Adil Mehroof, Fazil’s brother, provided financial support for the murder.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
