Bengaluru police have arrested murder accused Hindutva activist Puneet Kerehalli and his associate after a landlord alleged that they threatened and abused him, and accused him of harbouring “Bangladeshi migrants”.
Bannerghatta police arrested Puneet Kerehalli (34) and Dr Nagendrappa (38) late on Friday night, January 16, amid a large number of police personnel who had been deployed to maintain law and order.
Kerehalli heads the Rashtra Rakshana Pade, a Hindutva outfit, and is accused of chasing, beating, and murdering cattle trader Idrees Pasha in April 2023.
The arrest follows a complaint by a man named Siddesh K, a resident of Doggathogur, with the Bannerghatta police station. Siddesh said in his complaint that his uncle Mallikarjun called him late on the night of January 12 and told him that there was a commotion at his rented out building near Sai Brindavana layout in S Bingipura village.
When Siddesh reached the building a little after midnight, Puneet Kerehalli and Nagandrappa Shiroor and others were arguing with the residents, demanding to know “why Bangladeshis were in Bengaluru”.
When he tried to intervene, they demanded to know why he had rented out the house to “Bangladeshis” and abused and threatened him.
Siddesh told them that he had rented out the place after checking that their aadhar card was registered in Karnataka. The accused then threatened to kill him for renting out his house to “Bangladeshis”.
The Bannerghatta police arrived at around 1 am and took the renters to the police station.
Siddesh then filed a complaint against Puneet Kerehalli, Nagendra and others. Bannerghatta police have registered a case under Sections 126(2), 3(5), 329(3), 351(2), 351(3), and 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The Campaign Against Hate Speech had on Thursday, January 16, appealed to the Director General and Inspector General of Police, Karnataka, to take action against Puneeth Kerehalli for intimidating migrant workers, entering their houses and interrogating them about their nationality.
In the last few days, Puneet Kerehalli has been uploading videos of several such vigilante acts, in which he and others barge into the homes of people, accuse the residents of being undocumented Bangladeshis and aggressively demand that they go back to Bangladesh.
In a video uploaded on his YouTube page on January 14, Kerehalli is seen asking a woman, “Kaunsa desh hai aapka?” (Which country do you belong to?).
In some of the videos is seen demanding and collecting the Aadhar cards of residents, even when he has no authority to do so. Undocumented migration is to be acted upon by the ministry of home Affairs (MHA), the Foreign Regional Registration office (FRRO) and state authorities, the activists pointed out.
The Campaign demanded that the police take suo motu action against him and his associates for criminal trespass, intimidation, assault, harassment, and related offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). They also pointed out that he was out on bail after being accused of murdering cattle trader Idrees Pasha.