Moodbidri: A Bajrang Dal leader identified as Somanath Kotian who is also the president of Beluvai gram panchayat has been arrested by the town police here on Wednesday January 23.

He has been arrested on the charges of plotting to murder Imthiaz (29), a hotelier from Gantalkatte here. Mr Imthiaz in question is one of the accused in the 3-year-old murder case of Prashanth Poojary, a Bajrang Dal activist.

Mr Kotian was produced in the Court which remanded him to 15 days of judicial custody.

The Prashanth Poojary murder case accused Imthiaz was out on bail and had started a small hotel business at Gantalkatte. On Sep 24th 2018, a Toyota Innova car came in the morning to Imthiaz’s hotel in the guise of having tea and attacked him with deadly weapons in a bid to take away his life. However, Imthiaz was successful in escaping this bid over his life. A few days later, the accused in the murder attempt case were arrested by Mangaluru police.

When the arrested were subjected to interrogation, they revealed that Mr Kotian from Beluvai had planned this attack. The police investigation is still in progress.