NIA probe on underworld killings to focus on Bharuch and Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Dec 8: The National Investigating Agency (NIA) would probe if there is a Bengaluru link to the Bharuch killings.

The case on hand involved a conspiracy hatched by members of the underworld to kill Hindu leaders in a bid to avenge previous riots and also cause communal clashes in India.

The case came to light following the murder of two BJP leaders Sirish Bengali and Pragnesh Mistry.

The NIA, which will probe the case, would try and find a pattern behind these killings.

In the past few months several incidents linking the underworld to creating communal clashes have cropped up. The most recent one was following the arrest of Syed Niyamat in Bengaluru.

It was claimed by the police that Niyamat was working at the behest of the underworld which wanted him to target Hindu leaders in the state.

When asked whether the incidents in Bharuch and Bengaluru were interlinked, the NIA said that it was on their radar and they would probe into this link as well.

It is too early to say anything now, but looking at the manner in which the operations were launched, it appears as though the two are linked at least in terms of the motive concerned, the officer also added.

Tracking the conspiracy:

The NIA would also try and find the origin of the conspiracy. It has been found by the Gujarat ATS that payments came in through a hawala channel and landed in Surat. Further calls from UAE and South Africa too have been under the scanner.

While it is too early to conclude that these conspiracies were hatched in UAE, the police feel that the NIA would look further into this issue.

It could have also well been a case of trying to misguide the investigators, officials added. Normally SIM cards are sourced from one particular country and used in another.

The officers looking for the trail would land up in the country where the SIM has been purchased from while in reality the conspiracy would have been hatched elsewhere.

OneIndia News