Mangaluru Police, on Tuesday, 2 August, arrested six people in relation to the murder of a 23-year-old Muslim man in Surathkal on the outskirts of Karnataka’s Mangaluru.
Mohammed Fazil, a resident of Mangalpete near Surathkal, was stabbed to death on the evening of Thursday, 28 July.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, 2 August, Mangaluru Police Commissioner Shashi Kumar said that the arrested have been identified as Suhas Shetty (29), Mohan Singh (26), Giridhar (23), Abhishek (21), Srinivas (23), and Deekshit (21).
The seven arrested in the case so far.
From left to right -Ajit Crasta, Suhas Shetty, Deekshit, Srinivas, Abhishek, Mohan, Giridhar.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
They, however, were not directly linked and knew each other through common friends, the police said. Besides them, the owner of the car used in the murder Ajeet Krasta, was also arrested on 31 July.
Although the assailants, led by Shetty, kept track of Fazil before attacking him on 28 July, they did not have him as a specific target in mind when they began planning the murder on 26 July, the police claimed.
Amid speculations that Fazil's murder was revenge for BJP Youth Leader Praveen Nettaru's killing, the commissioner said that the motive is yet to be ascertained.
"I still cannot certainly say that the murders are linked, but, all I can say is, as per the investigation, after the killing on 26th in Bellare, these accused planned to murder somebody else," the police commissioner said.
How Did They Plan the Murder?
Describing the plans, the police said that Shetty called Abhishek to orchestrate the murder, and decided to kill a "random person" on 26 July.
Following this, they got Giridhar, Mohan, Abhishek, Srinivas, and Dikshit, on board. Right after, Mohan and Giridhar hired Krasta's car for Rs 15,000, which was later used for the attack.
The six, after ruminating on who to kill, zeroed down on Fazil on 28 July and started tracking his whereabouts, including his workplace.
On the same night, while Suhas, Mohan and Abhishek killed Fazil, Giridhar drove them around. Meanwhile, as Srinivas and Deekshit kept a watch in the car, they abandoned the vehicle in Karkala after the murder.
Fazil was grievously injured in the attack and died on the way to the hospital, the police had said earlier. CCTV footage showed him being continuously attacked with sticks and being stabbed. One of the assailants was seen hitting him even after he fell to the ground and a store mannequin fell on top of him.
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