Mangaluru, Jun 24: A day several local TV channels claimed that five persons were arrested in connection with the coldblooded murder of SDPI activist Ashraf Kalai, a senior police officer on Saturday confirmed the reports and said that the cops have secured the custody of all the arrested after producing them in a local court.
Ashraf (33), president of SDPI’s Ammunje zonal unit, was hacked to death by a gang of miscreants at Benjanapadavu in Bantwal taluk in broad daylight on June 21. The SDPI has called the murder a handiwork of Sangh Parivar.
All arrested persons hail from Bantwal taluk. They are Pavan Kumar, 24 of Pudu village, Bantwal; Santosh, 23, Thumbay village; Shivaprasad, 24, Bollari House, Thumbe; Ranjith, 28, resident of Pudu village and Abhin Rai, 23, Thenkabellur village. All of them have close ties with Hindutva outfits.
Except Santosh, the other accused have criminal cases against them. Abhin Rai was booked during Tipu Jayanti violence in Bantwal last year and a case was booked against Pavan in 2012 for trying to defile a religious place in Bantwal to create communal tension.
P Harishekaran, IGP (Western Range) said that murder plot was hatched by two rowdy sheeters Bharat Kumdelu and Divyaraj Shetty who are still at large. Police have intensified manhunt to nab them.
He said that the exact reason behind murder will be probed during police obtain custody of the accused. Prima facie, it was their intent to foment communal unrest in an already volatile area, he surmised.
The murder plan was hatched a month ago and it was discussed at various places. On the day of crime, the accused had gathered at one place and one among them carried out a recce near Ashraf's house to make sure he is present. Later, the gang who came in four bikes hacked him to death after he dropped a passenger at Benjanapadavu.
While one group was fleeing from the spot, the motorcycle developed a snag and this delayed their plan to join the rest by about 10 minutes. Later, the group holed up near Padubidri. The special team formed by Dakshina Kannada Police were sent to various places to nab the accused and police picked up the accused near Mangaluru on Saturday, Harishekaran explained.
Some of the accused in this case were also part of murder attempt on Unaid that took near Thumbe under Bantwal rural police station, a day before Ashraf's murder. A case was registered.
Police have obtained custody of all the accused for five-days. "During this period we will probe involvement of other persons involved, financial aid, technical support, reason for murder and other angles," IGP said adding that probe is going a right direction and investigating team has enough evidence.
Also Read: Bantwal: Cops question many over SDPI activist’s murder; vigil stepped up
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