Late on Sunday night, bike-borne assailants brutally hacked to death a 26-year-old Sri Rama Sene activist in Belagavi, Karnataka.
Rohit Raju Patil and his friend Akshay Ghorpade were at the Akshara Koota locality in Belagavi’s Gokak town, when the incident occurred.
According to Assistant Sub Inspector Ravindra, of the Gokak Police Station, the duo were returning home at around 10pm when their two-wheeler was intercepted by bike-borne miscreants.
“The miscreants threw chilli powder into the eyes of Rohit and Akshay. When the two of them fell down from the bike, the assailants attacked them with knives and machetes,” ASI Ravindra said.
Rohit was brutally hacked on his head, neck, chest and leg. Akshay too sustained grievous injuries.
Passers-by noticed the duo lying in a pool of blood and alerted the police. ASI Ravindra arrived at the spot and arranged for the injured duo to be taken to Gokak General Hospital.
“Rohit died on the way to the hospital. He was declared brought dead. Akshay is in a critical condition and is undergoing treatment at the hospital. We have not yet established the identities of the miscreants. Once Akshay is able to give us a statement, we will be able to figure out who killed Rohit. Currently, we suspect that Rohit had rivalry with some other group or outfit, which may have led to his murder,” ASI Ravindra added.
A case of murder and attempted murder has been filed against unidentified miscreants at the Gokak Town Police Station.
Sri Rama Sene, a pro-Hindu outfit led by Pramod Muthalik, is infamous for its moral policing activities. The notorious outfit came into public view after the 2009 Mangaluru pub attack.
Muthalik, the Hindu hardliner, is known for making provocative speeches. He was inducted into the BJP in March 2014 and was shunted out of the saffron party hours after his induction, due to the activities of Sri Rama Sene and his close association with the outfit.
Earlier in July, an RSS activist, Sharath Madivala, was hacked to death during communal clashes in Dakshina Kannada.
Madivala was murdered after Social Democratic Party of India functionary Kalayi Ashraf was brutally hacked to death by members of pro-Hindu groups in broad daylight in Dakshina Kannada.