Four more suspects arrested in Prashant Poojary murder case

Mangaluru: Four more persons have been arrested in connection with the murder of Bajrang Dal activist Prashant Poojary, who was part of a campaign to bust illegal slaughter houses at Moodbidri near here recently.

Mangaluru Police Commissioner S Murugan said that investigation in the case was on and other offenders who were also involved in the brutal murder are being identified and will be arrested soon.

The four who have been arrested are Mohammed Sharif, Mustafa Kavoor, Mohammed Mustafa and Kabeer.

Earlier, Mohammud Haneef, Mohammud Ilyas, Ibrahim Liyaqat and Abdul Rasheed were arrested in connection with Poojary's murder that took place earlier this month.

Murugan said the accused who were allegedly involved in the murder were upset over the Bajrang Dal activist's activities against illegal trafficking of cattle.

To a query about the affiliation of the accused to any organisation, he said the police was looking into it.

The accused were linked to some other criminal cases also, police said.

29-year old Poojary, a flower vendor who had led raids on illegal slaughter houses, was hacked to death by six bike-borne men armed with lethal weapons at Moodabirdi, 40 kms from here, on October 9.

The brutal attack had happened 12 days after 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched by a mob at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh over beef eating rumours, that led to a nation-wide outrage.

In a twist to the Moodabidri case, a witness to the murder, Vaman Poojary, had allegedly committed suicide a week after Prashant Poojary's murder, with Bajrang Dal raising questions about the circumstances surrounding it.

A group of protesters in Moodabidri had vowed revenge on Prashant Poojary for his raids on slaughter houses.

BJP local unit and right-wing outfits had questioned delay in the arrest of the killers.

(With PTI inputs)