In a major breakthrough, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested a Popular Front of India (PFI) member and the alleged key conspirator in the murder of Karnataka Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker R Rudresh in 2016, Mohammad Ghouse Nayazi, upon his arrival at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Airport from Tanzania’s commercial port town, Dar es Salaam.
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Mohammad Ghouse Nayazi, who was absconding from the probe agency for the past eight years was arrested by a special team of NIA at the airport following a tip-off.
Who is Mohammad Ghouse Nayazi?
Mohammad Ghouse Nayazi is claimed to be one of the main conspirators in the 2016 murder case of prominent Karnataka RSS worker R Rudresh. He was hacked to death by four members of the now-banned PFI in October 2016.
The murder was part of a larger conspiracy hatched by Ghouse Nayazi, president of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Karnataka’s Hebbal assembly constituency and another PFI member Asim Sheriff, according to the NIA’s press release. The duo had motivated the other four accused to kill Rudresh to strike terror among the members of RSS and the society. The killers were persuaded to believe that the fight against the RSS was a ‘holy war’, it added.
Ghouse, 41, a resident of RT Nagar in Bengaluru, fled from the country and was hiding in various locations abroad. The probe agency had also declared a reward of ₹5 lakh for providing information about him.
According to a report by Indian Express, Ghouse Nayazi was popularly known as Ghouse Bhai and had an Indian passport which expired on in September 2021. According to the report, Nayazi Ghouse was overstaying on expired Indian travel documentation and was deported to Ahmedabad by Dubai authorities to face legal action.
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The Gujarat Anti-Terror Squad had first tracked the location of Nayazi, following which central agencies were alerted. Nayazi was located at United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Dubai authorities and the tele-identifiers located Ghouse’s whereabouts via the SIM cards he had obtained using Indian Passport.
With Ghouse’s arrest, all the accused–Sheriff and the four assailants – Mohammed Sadiq, 35; Waseem Ahmed, 32; Irfan Pasha, 32; and Mohammed Mujeebullah, 41– in the case have been arrested. The trial against the remaining accused persons is continuing in NIA Special Court, Bengaluru.
