Hyderabad: 24-year-old Muslim youth Arbaaz, whose beheaded body was found on railway tracks in Belagavi on September 28, was killed by contract killers hired by the parents of his girlfriend as he refused to break up with her, the Karnataka police have confirmed.
This is the allegation that Arbaaz’s family has made since his brutal murder.
According to the police, the woman’s family opposed the relationship and approached Maharaja Nagappa alias Pundalik Mutgekar, a member of the Sri Ram Sena Hindustan, an offshoot of the Sri Ram Sene, to kill Arbaaz.
According to The News Minute, the police have made ten arrests in the case. Among those who have been arrested are Pundalik; the woman’s father Eerappa Basavanne Kumbhar, her mother Susheela Kumbharl; the contract killers, who were identified as Maruti Pralhad Sugathe, Manjunatha Thukaram Gondali, Prashanth Kallappa Patil, Ganapathi Jnaneshwara Sugathe, Qutubuddin, Praveena Shankara and Shreedhara Mahadeva Doney.
In a press release, the police say several other accused have been identified.
The accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including murder, disappearing evidence, wrongful restraint, criminal conspiracy, extortion, among others.
According to a report in The Wire, Arbaaz’s mother Najeema had been living under tremendous fear that her son would be attacked or killed for his interfaith relationship. She had informed the woman’s parents about the relationship hoping they would convince the duo to part ways. However, the family was instead “threatened of dire consequences”.