Accused in RSS worker's murder had planned to kill Mangaluru VHP leader'

Mysuru, Aug 21: The prime accused in RSS worker Raju murder case had involved in at least seven other murder and five murder-attempt cases in the past, according to Mysuru City Police Commissioner B?Dayananda.

Addressing media persons, the top cop said that Abid Pasha was involved in murder of Shashikumar and Parveen Taj of Rajivnagar, Ramesh of Lashkar Mohalla, Harish of Ashoka Road and two students from Hunsur — Vignesh and Sudeendra — and Thyagaraja Pillai of Hunsur.

“He was also involved in attempt to murder cases that were reported in Dakshina Kannada and Mysuru districts since 2008. Along with others, he had made an attempt to kill advocates Shanti Prasad Hegde and Jagadish Shenava, also Mangaluru taluk unit working president of Vishva Hindu Parishad, in May 2010. Besides, he had also made murder attempts on Ramesh, Anand Pai and Giridhar in Mysuru city,” he said.

Pasha, who was arrested by the City Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths nearly a fortnight ago in connection with the murder of Raju, who was hacked to death at a tea stall in Mysuru on March 13, was in the past arrested by Mangaluru Police, but he managed to obtain bail.

The commissioner said, “Pasha has confessed about his involvement in all the crime. He is the prime accused in a few murder and murder attempts cases and all of them are owing to religious hatred.”

Dayananda said, “On July 12, 2008, Pasha, along with his aides, had killed a salon owner Shashikumar in Rajivnagar in the city. The CID had submitted a C' report to the court. Shashikumar was killed during early hours, when he was opening his salon. Similarly, on June 9, 2009, Pasha had attacked two people — Ramesh and Anand Pai near Five Lights Circle in the city.Ramesh died due to injuries. In November the same year, the accused had murdered another Ramesh, owner of Ramesh Book Shop on Ashoka Road.

Apart from these, on June 11, 2011, Sudeendra and Vignesh, two students of Mahajana College from Hunsur town, were brutally killed near Chikkaballapur after their parents declined to pay a ransom of Rs 5 crore. Bengaluru CCB police had arrested six persons while Pasha was absconding. Similarly, Pasha had murdered one Thyagaraja Pillai of Hunsur over personal grudge.

In 2015, Pasha had killed a Muslim woman too. Pasha and others had killed Parveen Taj on July 8 at Rajivnagar in the city, he said.

Meanwhile, the CCB?police have detained three more persons in connection with Raju murder case. They are: Ayub Khan (27) of Kalyanagiri, Mohammed Haneef (36) of Azeez Sait Nagar and Hameed Khan (27) of Gouziya Nagar.

“All the accused were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The police have laid a trap to arrest other accused involved in Raju's case,” the commissioner informed.