Mangaluru (The Hindu): Evading the police for over four months, Naresh Shenoy, the prime accused in the murder of 51-year-old RTI activist Vinayak Baliga, finally ended up in the police net on Friday.

The Mangaluru City Police apprehended Shenoy from an undisclosed location. He had been at large since March 21, the day of the murder.

Incidentally, the police had filed a preliminary charge sheet in the case before the III Judicial Magistrate First Class in Mangaluru on Thursday, listing Shenoy as Accused No. 1. All the remaining six accused have already been arrested by the police and one of them is out on bail.

Not revealing the place from where Shenoy was secured, highly-placed sources in the police said that they were questioning Shenoy in relation to the case. His arrest is yet to be formalised, sources said.

Shenoy is the founder of Mangaluru unit of Namo Brigade, later renamed as Yuva Brigade.

Vinayak Baliga was hacked to death by three persons near his house in Kodialbail. The police first arrested Vineet Poojary, Nishit Devadiga and Shiva alias Shivaprasad, who allegedly murdered Baliga.

Later police arrested photographer K. Manjunath Shenoy alias Manju Neereshwalya for allegedly helping Shenoy in evading arrest. On June 18, police arrested Srikant, a close associate of Shenoy, who was accused of hiring services of the three assailants.

The alleged inability of the Mangaluru police to nab the prime accused had led to severe discontent in Mangaluru as well as the State.

Several protests were held by activists led by rationalist Narendra Nayak and also by family members of Vinayak Baliga demanding arrest of Shenoy.

Shenoy is founder of the Mangaluru unit of Namo Brigade, later renamed Yuva Brigade