NIA arrests PFI member who played key role in RSS leader Rudresh's murder on arrival from Tanzania

Mar 02, 2024

New Delhi [India], March 2 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested a Popular Front of India (PFI) member who was the key conspirator and was absconding in the 2016 Karnataka case relating to the murder of RSS leader R Rudresh.

Ghouse Nayazi was arrested by an NIA team at the Mumbai International Airport on his arrival from Dar e Salaam, Tanzania, said the NIA, adding "the team was lying in wait for him at the airport after receiving credible inputs about the absconding accused."

Rudresh, a prominent RSS leader of Shivajinagar, Bengaluru, was hacked to death by four members of the now banned PFI, on October 16, 2016.
The NIA investigations into the case had revealed that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy hatched by Ghouse, President of SDPI Hebbal Assembly Constituency, and one Asim Sheriff.

"The duo had motivated the other four accused to kill Rudresh with an intention 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'," said the NIA.

"With Ghouse's arrest, all the accused in the case have been arrested. The trial
against the remaining accused persons is continuing in NIA Special Court, Bengaluru," added the agency.