Mob at Udupi demands justice for Nejaru family

NT Correspondent

Udupi: "He took 15 minutes to kill four members. Please hand him over for just 30 seconds," demanded an irate mob during the spot investigation of the quadruple murder case by the police with accused Praveen Arun Chougale here in Nejaru on Thursday.

Tension prevailed at Nejaru murder spot all through the inquest procedure with the locals demanding mob justice to avenge the horrific murder of four members of a family on November 12.

The arrested Praveen Chougale was taken to Trupti Layout in Nejar where he had committed the gruesome murders of Haseena, 46, and her three children Ainaz, 21, Afnan, 23, and Aseem, 12, for Mahazar.

At that moment, hundreds of locals gathered to witness the culprit and the proceedings. As soon as the procedures ended and the accused was about to be taken back to a secret location, the gathered crowd staged a flash protest and demanded that the Praveen be handed over to them for mob justice.

However, the police used force and dispersed the public from the spot. The situation was volatile all through the police procedure. Amidst the irate crowd, the police took the accused back safely with them after finishing the procedures.

Blocking the road, the public demanded that the Superintendent of Police (SP) and District Commissioner (DC) should arrive at the spot immediately.

Malpe police inspector Gurunath Hadumani and other top officials of the department took the situation into control and requested the leaders to maintain peace and withdraw protest.

Meanwhile, in a press statement Udupi SP Dr Arun K, has said, "During the spot inspection procedures the friends and the family members gathered at the place tried to block the movement of police vehicles carrying the accused. At that moment we carried out a lathi charge and disbursed the crowd and the accused was taken back. Now the situation is peaceful. We will discuss with the community leaders and request them to maintain peace."