Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested an absconding accused in the murder case of RSS leader SK Sreenivasan. The detained person is Shahul Hameed, a native of Palakkad and activist of banned outift Popular Front of India (PFI). He was listed as the 55th accused in the 2022 murder case.

Hameed, who was in Oman, was taken into custody upon his arrival at the New Delhi airport and was later shifted to Kochi, PTI reported. Earlier, the NIA had issued a lookout circular against him after taking over the probe.

A special NIA court remanded him to judicial custody until December 1.

Hameed is accused of being part of the conspiracy and of assisting the prime suspect in hiding following Sreenivasan’s murder on April 16, 2022.

Sreenivasan, a former district leader and office-bearer of the RSS, was attacked by a six-member gang at his motorbike shop in Melamuri, Palakkad—less than 24 hours after BJP workers allegedly killed a PFI leader named Subair.

A total of 71 people have been booked in the case.

The NIA has alleged that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy involving communal violence orchestrated by PFI.

In April this year, an NIA team nabbed the key accused, Shamnad EK, alias Shamnad Illikkal, a native of Malappuram. Authorities had earlier announced a ₹7 lakh reward for information about him after he went into hiding following the murder. The NIA’s Absconder Tracking Team later traced him to Ernakulam, officials said.

The NIA began its investigation into the murder case in September 2022. The probe revealed that PFI leaders and cadres allegedly conspired to carry out the murder to create communal unrest.