Praveen Nettaru murder case: NIA arrests absconding Hit Team district head of PFI

In the Praveen Nettaru murder case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has apprehended an absconding Service Team (Hit Team) member of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI).

Thufail MH, the Kodagu district head of PFI Service Team (Hit Team) and former District Secretary of the outfit, was apprehended late last night from his Bengaluru hideout, the agency said on Sunday.

“After painstakingly pursuing and developing leads from various sources, the NIA team managed to hole out and overpower absconder Thufail MH from his hideout in the Amaruthahalli area of Bengaluru City,” said the NIA.

Tufail was wanted in the July 2022 murder of Praveen Nettaru, a BJP Yuva Morcha member, by PFI cadres in Bellare village of Sullia Taluk in Dakshina Kannada district.

In January of this year, the NIA filed a charge-sheet against 20 accused persons before the NIA Special Court in Bengaluru, including six fugitives.

According to the NIA, Thufail MH was a key figure in PFI’s larger conspiracy to assassinate community leaders.

“He also provided shelter and safe harbour at Ashiyana residency of Koppa Village, Mysuru district to the three assailants of this case, who had recced and then hacked Praveen Nettaru to death,” said the anti-terror agency.

Earlier, Thufail MH was accused in the Prashanth Poojari murder case registered in 2016 of at Kushalnagar Rural Police Station in Karnataka and attempt to murder of VHP leader Ganesh in 2012 at Madikeri Rural Police Station in Karnataka.