Owner of vehicle used in Surathkal murder arrested

In a major breakthrough, police have arrested the owner of a car that was hired by the assailants for hacking Mohammed Fazil to death at Mangalapete in Surathkal on July 28.

Confirming the development, ADGP (Law and order) Alok Kumar told DH that the name of the arrested is Ajith. The police are questioning him and this is the first arrest in the case.

Giving further details, Commissioner of Police N Shashi Kumar said that after producing him to the court, the police will take his custody for further investigation. “Based on the CCTV footage, the police had investigated the cars. Based on the car model and colour, we had questioned several people before zeroing on the owner of the car that was hired by the assailants. During the interrogation, he had revealed on those who had hired the car from him,” said the Commissioner.

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“We have details on those who had hired the car. More questioning of the car owner will reveal further involvement of those who were part of the murder. Based on the inputs provided by the car owner, steps have been taken to arrest the culprits by the police officers. As the investigation is in progress, we can not reveal all the details,” he said.

The owner of the car was renting out his vehicles. One of the accused was in contact with the owner for a long time and had hired cars from the owner in the past. The car used by the assailants is yet to be traced as those who had hired the car had not yet returned it to the owner, explained the commissioner.

“The arrested car owner had revealed the interaction he had with those who had hired the car along with the amount of rent. When a murder occurs, we have to investigate it from all angles. Since Saturday evening, about 13 car owners were questioned before zeroing in on the owner of the car. Since the murder of Fazil, the police have questioned more than 51 people,” said the Commissioner.

To a query on Praveen Nettaru's murder, the ADGP said "we have got vital clues and investigation is in progress. M N Anucheth from Bengaluru and DK SP Rishikesh Sonawane are in Bellare to step up the probe into the death of Praveen."