Shortly after taking over the probe into two cases related to the violence at D.J. Halli and K.G. Halli, where the city police invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted searches at 30 locations in Bengaluru and arrested a “key conspirator”.
According to NIA officials, the accused [who has been identified as Sayed Saddiq Ali, 44] allegedly attacked the K.G. Halli police station on August 11.
He works as a recovery agent in a bank and has been absconding since the night of the violence.
This is the first arrest made by the investigation agency since it took over the probe.
Officials also conducted searches at 30 locations in Bengaluru to “unearth the conspiracy behind the attacks on D.J. Halli and K.G. Halli police stations.”
In a release, the NIA said, “During the searches, an air gun, pellets, sharp weapons, iron rods, digital devices, DVRs, and many incriminating documents and material related to the Social Democratic Party of India and the Popular Front of India have been seized.” Large-scale violence broke out in D.J. Halli and K.G. Halli on August 11 over a derogatory social media post by Naveen Kumar, nephew of Akhanda Sreenivasa Murthy, MLA.
The houses of both of them were attacked. The violence resulted in huge damage and destruction of public and government property, said the NIA.
