Slain RTI activist's kin thank Mangaluru top cop for catching NaMo Naresh

Mangaluru, Jun 28: The family members of slain RTI activist Vinayak Baliga have thanked Mangaluru city police chief for keeping his promise of arresting Yuva Brigade leader Naresh Shenoy alias NaMo Naresh, the prime accused in the three month old murder case.

52-year-old Baliga was brutally murdered by three supari killers near his house at Kodialbail in the city in the wee hours on March 21. According to police Baliga's activism is among the reasons for the murder.

Even though police had considered Naresh as the prime accused in the murder case, they had failed to catch him for three long months. Finally, he was arrested on June 26 at Hejamadi in Udupi district.

A week after the murder, Mangaluru City Police Commissioner M Chandra Sekhar had visited the parents of Baliga and assured them that he would bring all the culprits involved in the case to book. However, the delay in arresting Naresh had irked the family members of the victims.

On Monday, a day after Naresh was formally arrested, Baliga's sisters Shwetha M Pai and Anuradha Baliga met the top cop just to thank and congratulate him for arresting all main accused in the murder case.

Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA) president Narendra Nayak and DYFI state president Muneer Katipalla, who had staged several protests to exert pressure on the police department to speed up the investigation into the case, were also present on the occasion.

They appealed the Commissioner that Baliga murder case should see a logical conclusion. The commissioner said that chargesheeet of Baliga murder case has been filed based on solid evidences gathered during investigation. “We will try our best to ensure that charges against the accused stand in the court and the accused get punishment due to them," Mr Chandra Sekhar said.