Days after battling for his life, 47-year-old Basheer who was attacked following the death of 27-year-old BJP activist Deepak Rao, succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital in Mangaluru on Sunday.
Basheer, a fast-food joint owner, was injured after he was attacked on January 3, by a group of men wielding lethal weapons, as he was returning home.
Meanwhile, Basheer's kin told the media that their family has decided not to hold a funeral procession. "Only close members of the family will be allowed to see the body," they said.
The police had earlier arrested PK Srijith, a 25-year-old man from Uppala, Kishan Poojary and Dhanush Poojary, brothers from Padil near Mangaluru, and Sandesh Kotian, a 22-year-old from Manjeshwar in Kasaragod, for the murder.
While Basheer was a resident of Akasha Bhavana, approximately 11 km from Katipalla, where Deepak was found murdered, the police have not established any connection between the two deceased victims.
The police said that the four people arrested just wanted to take revenge for Deepak's death.
"In fact, they were familiar with Basheer's movements as they frequented to his eatery. On their way from Garodi temple (near Nagori) to Surathkal, they spotted him at Kottara Chowki and assaulted him nearly 15 times, the video grab showed," Mangaluru Police Commissioner TR Suresh told the media.
“They said that they just wanted to attack someone from the community. They were travelling to Surathkal and saw Basheer, so they attacked him. They knew Kottara Chowki, where the eatery was located, and also knew that Basheer would be an easy target,” the Commissioner added.
“They have not yet revealed the name of the organisation they belong to, but they have said that they are pro-Hindu activists,” Commissioner Suresh added.
On being alerted by locals, two off-duty ambulance drivers, Rohit and Chandrashekar Kulai, attempted to save Basheer's life by shifting him to AJ Hospital in their ambulance.
However, doctors said that his condition was critical and he was battling for life.
Basheer was formerly employed in Gulf countries for over two decades, before he returned to India in 2016 and setup an eatery, while staying close to his family.
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