Days after a BJP Youth wing leader was brutally hacked to death in Karnataka, the concerned police department has apprehended two persons while over a dozen of people have been detained for interrogation into the murder that sparked unrest across the state.

The accused were arrested in Kerala and have been taken into judicial custody in the midst of demands from the BJP functionaries that the case should be probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). According to reports, the accused were arrested on Thursday and the two arrested are identified as 29-year-old Mohammed Zakir and 27-year-old Savanoor Shafiq.

BJP Youth Wing leader Praveen Nettaru, who was the youth wing district president in Dakshina Kannada, was hacked to death in the night hours of July 26 by unidentified persons in Bellare village. The incident triggered a fury where hundreds of BJP workers held protests and they accused the leftist organizations of murdering Nettaru. 

After arresting the accused, Dakshina Kannada Police Superintendent Rishikesh Bhagwan Sonawane said that Zakir had a criminal case against him in Bellare previously. A case was booked against Zakir in 2020 under Section 324- voluntarily causing hurt. It was also reported that Nettaru was killed in retaliation for the death of Masood, who was attacked by a gang of eight people in Bellare on July 19 and he died in a private hospital in Mangaluru two days later. 

Karnataka's ADGP Alok Kumar said that Zakir and Shafiq were detained on Wednesday evening and based on evidence, they were placed under arrest on Thursday. Later, the two accused were presented in court and taken into judicial custody. It has also been reported that Shafiq was one of the close friends of Praveen Nettaru and the former's father was employed in the latter's shop. On the other hand, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje has written to Union Minister Amit Shah asking for NIA's probe into Nettaru's murder.