Deepak Rao murder: Accused recover from bullet injuries, cops to quiz them soon

Mangaluru: Police officials are likely to get more details on the murder of Sangh parivar activist Deepak Rao after the discharge of two accused in the case- Nawaz and Rizwan from hospital.

Deepak Rao was murdered on January 3 and within hours, the police arrested four accused along with the car allegedly used for the crime.

Initially, the police took two accused, Naushad and Nirshan, into custody and questioned them.

The two are said to have admitted that they had planned the attack in advance.

Now police officials are expected to get more details after taking the other two accused, Nawaz and Rizwan, into custody.

Nawaz and Rizwan sustained bullet injuries when they tried to escape from the police and are under treatment at a private hospital.

The two are said to have recovered and are likely to be discharged shortly. Once they are discharged, the police will take them into custody for questioning.

Of the two, Rizwan is one of the accused in Bharatiya Janata Party leader Bharathraj’s attempt to murder case. Four accused, including Rizwan, had attacked and attempted to murder Bharathraj on April 13, 2016.

Bharathraj, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader of Katipalla, hails from the same area as Deepak Rao. The police investigation could reveal if both incidents had any connection.

“In all the cases we will probe the motive for the murder, the people who provided help to the accused and also the benefit the accused would have got from these crimes,” a police official said.