Bengaluru: Though the city police have not termed RSS worker Rudresh’s murder a terror act, they have invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the five people arrested in the case.
UAPA is normally invoked in terror-related cases. But, after a thorough investigation and questioning of the accused, the city police have booked the accused under the stringent Act.
The five arrested – Irfan Pasha, Waseem Ahmed, Mohammed Sadiq alias Mohammed Mazar, Mohammed Mujeebullah alias Moula alias Mujeeb, and Asim Shariff, the Bengaluru District President of the Popular Front of India – have been booked under Sections 15 (terrorist act), 16 (punishment for terrorist act), 17 (punishment for raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (punishment for conspiracy) and 20 (punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, and other sections of the IPC.
“During the course of the investigation, we found that the arrested accused have a tendency to commit offences and create fear in the minds of the public. Also, prima facie, it is found that a few others are also involved in the case. That is the reason the stringent UAP Act has been invoked in addition with the IPC sections against the arrested accused. We have submitted it before the court,” a release by the city police stated.
A senior officer said that this is one of the rare murder cases where UAPA has been invoked. “As the accused are booked under UAPA, it will be difficult for them to get bail. It also helps us in our investigations while coordinating and seeking information from the police from other states,” he said.
