Mangaluru: Another arrest has been made in the recent murder of the flower vendor and right wing activist from Moodbidri, Prashanth Poojary. The arrested Mohammed Imthiyaz (40) is one of the conspirator in the murder which took place on October 9.
He is the ninth accused arrested in the case.
Addressing a press meet at the District Commissioner’s office in the city, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Alok Mohan said that the accused, who belongs to Gantalkatte, in Moodbidri, was arrested at the Mumbai airport while he was making a bid to escape to Dubai. A team was sent to bring him in, he added.
Speaking further about the main accused, he said that Imthiyaz was not directly involved in the murder but gave a group of individual’s directions to carry out the crime. It was also said that he will be brought to Mangaluru soon.
“The police department has left no stone unturned in this case. Any accused who is trying to escape will be nabbed and put behind bars”, the ADGP said and added that the team is working as per the law. “Mangalore police are working very well…even in SI Jagadish case or any other case for that matter the police have succeeded in nabbing the accused”, he said with regard to the efficiency shown by the Police department in the past couple of weeks.
The murder of the right wing activist Prashanth Poojary created a tense situation in the city and several protests followed with rumors that the reason behind the murder was communal hatred. Earlier, SP Murugan, addressing the media said that the motive behind the murder was not communal hatred but a personal cause.
ADGP Alok Mohan, speaking about the communal aspect of the crime and the religion that the arrested belong to, said that for the police, a criminal is a criminal no matter which religion they belong to and further, denying the allegations that have surfaced recently about some police officers being biased in the case, he said that the police department has been working as a team and not as individuals and hence “there is no scope for bias”.
SP Sharanappa and S Murugan were present at the press meet.
