BJP activist's murder: K'taka Police detain suspect from Kerala

Bengaluru, July 31

In a major development in the BJP activist Praveen Kumar Nettare's murder case, the special investigative team has apprehended a suspect from Kerala's Talacherry.

The suspect has been identified as Abid and the accused worked in a chicken shop and has connections with a political organisation, police said on Saturday.

Police further stated that the investigations revealed that Abid was not in the town on the day Praveen was hacked to death. The police have already arrested Zakir Savanur (29) and Shafeeq Bellare (27) in connection with the murder of Praveen.

Investigations have revealed that the accused had been hatching the conspiracy to kill Praveen since the past two months. The accused were in touch through whatsApp calls and made threatening calls to Praveen.

Praveen had shared about the threat calls with his friends and he had also informed about this to the Bellare police orally. Police are now investigating all the leads.

On July 26, bike-borne miscreants attacked Praveen in the Bellare town of Dakshina Kannada district in front of his chicken shop and hacked him to death.

Following the murder of Praveen, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had cancelled celebration of his one-year term in office. He visited Praveen's family and issued a cheque of Rs 25 lakh as compensation from the government. The party had given Rs 25 lakh separately.

The incident triggered a chain of protests from the BJP workers all over the state against the ruling BJP. The agitators laid siege at Home Minister Araga Jnanendra's residence causing severe embarrassment to the ruling establishment.