Condemning the murder of Idrees Pasha, a Muslim cattle trader, in Ramanagara by cow vigilantes, Kanakapura MLA and president of Karnataka Congress DK Shivakumar said that the current Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is responsible for the incident. Addressing the media on Monday, April 3, DK Shivakumar accused Bommai of encouraging moral policing. He said, “Basavaraj Bommai is responsible for this. You can recall his statement on moral policing. We had raised our voices when he made that statement also.”
Claiming that he is in touch with the police officers investigating the case since it happened in his constituency, DK Shivakumar said, “I have the photographs of all the leaders he [the accused Puneeth Kerehalli] was seen with. The police have to take action against them. The Home Minister [Araga Jnanendra] has to resign.”
The Congress leader also said that the government must provide compensation to the family of Idrees Pasha. He said, “A compensation of Rs 25 lakh has to be paid to his family immediately. It is a very grave incident. I do not want to get involved in the investigation, but the compensation has to be paid, and the culprits must be arrested.”
Idrees Pasha was murdered allegedly by Hindutva activists under the pretext that he was smuggling cattle illegally on Sunday, April 2. Pasha was originally from Mandya in Karnataka. Two of Pasha’s associates – Syed Zaheer, the driver of the container and Irfan, who was in charge of loading, were physically assaulted by the activists. The police have booked prominent pro-Hindutva activist Puneeth Kerehalli and four others in the case.
The accused have been booked under sections 302 (murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC, based on a complaint lodged by Pasha's family members. Puneeth had abused Pasha and demanded Rs 2 lakh and had allegedly asked him to “go back to Pakistan.” The accused person had also chased and assaulted him, which allegedly resulted in his death.
With the incident coming to light, photographs of Puneeth with several prominent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Karnataka including south Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya, and BJP national secretary CT Ravi, began to surface on social media, pointing out his proximity to the state’s ruling party.