Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 28: Two men have been arrested on Thursday in connection with the murder on Tuesday of BJP youth wing leader Praveen Nettaru at Bellare in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district that had led to massive protests and discomfiture to the state’s BJP government led by Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai.
The two men — identified as Bellare local resident Mohammed Shafiq, 27, and Zakir, 29, from Savanoor in Haveri district — are suspected of “links” with the Popular Front of India. “We are investigating all of those angles and also the motives of these men,” said Alok Kumar, ADGP, law and order. Both were taken into custody for questioning on Wednesday and were arrested on Thursday “on the basis of evidence,” the police said. More arrests may be made after interrogating them, the police added.
Praveen Nettaru, 32, district secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, was killed by three men who were on a motorcycle and carrying a machete, when he was returning home to nearby town Sullia after closing his poultry shop at Bellare on Tuesday night. The murder is suspected to have “Nupur Sharma connection” since Nettaru had made some Facebook posting in support of the slain tailor in Udaipur who was believed to had been killed because he had praised Nupur Sharma who had criticised Prophet Mohammad.
Nettaru’s murder led to protests as members of the BJP youth wing said the party’s state government failed to protect its own. Visuals of protesters surrounding state BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel’s car and heckling him also went viral.
Chief Minister Bommai promised a speedy investigation, and six teams were formed. Fifteen people were taken into custody for questioning, police had stated on Wednesday. Three of the teams were sent to regions within Karnataka and to neighbouring Kerala, as the bike had a Kerala registration number.
The murder of Nettaru following the similar killing of a Bajrang Dal activist Harsha Jingade at Shivmogga in February had caused immense embarrassment to the Bommai government and the protests over Nettaru’s death prompted the chief minister to cancel elaborate celebrations on his completing one year in the office. The celebrations scheduled to be held in Doddaballapur on Thursday was to be attended by BJP national president J.P. Nadda.
Angry crowds of BJP workers surrounded BJP state president and local MP Nalin Kateel on Wednesday when he went to visit Nettaru’s family. Slogans of “BJP hai hai“(down with BJP), unimaginable for the party in the Sangh stronghold of coastal Karnataka, rang out from incensed BJYM cadre. A flood of BJP IT Cell members, around 166 from Bagalkote, Chikmangalur and other districts publicly tendered their resignations, upset at what they termed was the helplessness of the BJP government in the State to tackle dangers to their own party members.
The question that the cadre was asking was however different. In a State where the BJP was in power, how were such violent murders allowed to happen? When apprehended, how were the accused in the Harsha case seen making video calls from jail? The BJP government under Bommai is being termed as being not just soft in terms of controlling law and order, but the reasons attributed to it are also pointed towards the way the BJP government was formed in this term — with the help of dissidents from other parties.
Under pressure from the party cadres, Bommai was forced to convene a midnight press conference on Wednesday night to announce that if need be, he would follow the “Yogi Adityanath model” in the state to curb communal forces. The two men arrested in connection with the murder of Praveen Nettaru in Bellare are said to have links with the Popular Front of India, an extremist Islamic organisation.
Flanked by Kateel and some of his senior cabinet ministers, Bommai said, “Considering the situation in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath is the right person as the Chief Minister to handle the state”. “In Karnataka, we are issuing different methods to deal with communal forces. If situation arises, Yogi model will be implemented here too,” he added.
In Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath is seen as being tough on the law-and-order front, which was one of his key election promises. There have been other measures in cases of communal clashes — heavy fines on perpetrators and using bulldozers on their illegal properties. Critics have said those at the receiving end are almost invariably Muslims.
“We will take strict action against the culprits. Even organisations supporting them will not be spared,” Bommai added. “We will see whether it qualifies for the NIA (National Investigation Agency) or what… the rules of UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) will suffice,” he added. The family, the Chief Minister said, would receive ₹ 25 Lakh from the government and Rs 25 lakh from the BJP.
Declaring that the killing was part of a pan-India is conspiracy by anti-national forces to disturb peace and sow hatred, Bommai had said his government was determined to end this situation. “Along with routine investigation, stricter laws and punishment to completely eliminate organisations and individuals involved in such terror activities such as PFI, we have decided to raise a specially trained commando force in the state, along with training and ammunition support for it,” he said.
“There is anger in our hearts following this killing. This incident within few months after Harsha’s (Bajarang Dal activists) murder in Shivmogga has pained me,” Bommai said.
“My government completes one year and it is three years of the BJP rule after coming to power under B S Yediyurappa. We had planned for Janotsava but after looking at the pain of the victim’s mother and family, I have decided to cancel tomorrow’s events,” Bommai had announced.
