Suhas Shetty murder: NIA searches 18 locations in Karnataka, seizes digital devices (Lead)

Bengaluru, Aug 2 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday conducted extensive searches at 18 locations in various districts of Karnataka in the Hindu activist and rowdy sheeter Suhas Shetty's targeted killing case, an official said.

Bajrang Dal member Suhas Shetty was publicly assaulted and brutally murdered by accused Abdul Safwan and others using lethal weapons in the Bajpe area of Mangaluru City in May this year. The killing was intended to spread terror in the society, the NIA said.

NIA, which took over the case from the local police in June, on Saturday searched the residences of the 12 arrested individuals and various suspects in the case, according to the NIA.

The searches, carried out in the districts of Mangaluru, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan, led to the seizure of various digital devices, including 11 mobile phones, 13 SIM cards and eight memory cards, along with other incriminating documents, NIA said.

Investigation into the conspiracy behind the killing is continuing, the NIA stated.

The murder case of Sushas Shetty triggered revenge killings and a series of stabbing incidents in the coastal region, and communal tension threatened to spread to other regions of the state. The Karnataka Police had arrested 12 accused persons in connection with the case. Following the demand by BJP leaders and Union Ministers from the state, the Centre has handed over the probe to the NIA.

The parents of Suhas Shetty have also emphasised that only the NIA probe could give them justice in the case. Hindu activist Suhas Shetty was hacked to death on May 1 by a gang using machetes and swords. The killers who came in two vehicles had attacked him while he was travelling in his car with associates in the limits of the Bajpe police station.

The shocking video of the killing in full public view had raised concerns.

Suhas Shetty was a Bajrang Dal activist and the prime accused in the murder of Mohammad Fazil, a resident of Suratkal. Shetty and his associates had allegedly killed Fazil at a public place on July 28, 2022, in retaliation for the murder of BJP activist Praveen Kumar Nettaru.

Nettaru, a BJP worker from the same communally sensitive region, was hacked to death during the height of the 'hijab' row. The incident occurred in Bellare near Sullia in the Dakshina Kannada district. Nettaru's murder had triggered revenge killings and a spate of stabbing incidents across the state.

Suhas Shetty had come out of prison on bail in the murder case of Fazil.

Weeks after the killing of Suhas Shetty, a 42-year-old Imtiyaz, a pickup driver and secretary of a local mosque, was hacked to death in broad daylight near Ira Kodi in Bantwal taluk in Mangaluru as revenge for Suhas Shetty's murder.

--IANS

mka/uk