Nettaru killers hid weapons in mosques, madrasas: NIA

Bengaluru, Jan 27: Shocking details of the gruesome murder of Karnataka BJP youth leader Praveen Nettaru last year have come to the fore. The latest NIA findings reveal the shocking details of how the crime was planned and executed by the banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). NIA revealed that the PFI had hidden lethal weapons like machetes in mosques, madrasas, and houses.
The PFI ‘Killer Squad’ had marked 21 such mosques where they could hide the weapons to use when required. The PFI killed Nettaru to avenge one Kalanja Masood’s murder. His killers had undergone training at Idukki in Kerala. In yet another shocking revelation, Nettaru knew about the plot to kill him and he had told his friend Charan Raj about someone stalking him for months. Moreover, he sought installation of CCTV in front of his store for safety and security. The audio recording of Nettaru speaking to his friend has been confiscated by NIA officers.
The NIA has filed a chargesheet against 20 members of the PFI for murdering Nettaru in July last year. Last week, the investigation agency 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.” According to the charge sheet, PFI’s killer squads 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. 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 instill fear among the general populace and specifically among members of a particular community.”