‘Naxals’ acquitted in murder case

Four suspected naxals accused in the sensational Bhoja Shetty and Suresh Shetty murder case were acquitted by principal district and sessions court.

They are Veeramani alias Eshwar, Ramesh, Neelaguli Padmanabha and Sanjeeva.

Advocate Shantharam Shetty argued in favour of Ramesh (in Parappana Agrahara Jail in Bengaluru), Neelaguli Padmanabha (who is out on bail) and Veeramani (lodged in Coimbatore jail). While advocate Akhil Hegde argued in favour of Sanjeeva (also out on bail) in the court on Wednesday.

The other accused Chandrashekar alias Thippesh, Nandakumar of Koppa and his wife Asha, Devendra of Shivamogga were acquitted in this case by the court in 2016. Manohar and Vasanth were shot dead during an encounter with the police.

Bhoja Shetty and his neighbor Suresh Shetty were murdered near Seethanadi in Hebri, Udupi district, on May 15, 2008. The naxals suspecting Bhoja Shetty to be a police informer (tipping police about their activities in the region) had gunned down Shetty near Hebri. His neighbour, Suresh Shetty, who was with him at the time of attack was also shot dead. Two more cases are pending against Padmanabha in Udupi, four in Kundapur, nine in Chikkamagaluru and one case in Koppa.

Noor Sridhar, an activist, who was accused of threatening Bhoja Shetty on May 13, 2006, was also acquitted by the court on Wednesday.