Tension gripped Dakshina Kannada district as the RSS activist, who was brutally stabbed on his neck by bike-borne miscreants on July 4, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital on Friday.
BJP workers plan to carry out a funeral procession to Bantwal on Saturday and several Sangh Parivar leaders are expected to attend.
Earlier in the day, a high-powered protest led by BJP MPs Shobha Karandlaje and Nalin Kumar Kateel was held against the stabbing of RSS activist Sharat Madivala.
Just a few hours after the Dakshina Kannada police had rounded up over 500 protestors and detained Karandlaje and Kateel for violation of Section 144, Sharat died at the hospital.
In addition to the prevailing tension, an engineering student was allegedly stabbed by three unidentified persons at Mangaulru’s Adyar Padavu on Friday evening.
“The boy was a Muslim. The stabbing indicates that it was a retaliatory act for the death of RSS activist Sharat. We are still trying to track Sharat’s killers,” said Dakshina Kannada SP Sudheer Kumar Reddy.
On the same evening, two men from Mallappuram in Kerala, who were driving to Dakshina Kannada district’s Bittupade, were attacked by three unidentified persons with sharp weapons.
“Based on the victims’ – Sajid and Noufal’s statements, they were stopped by three unidentified men near Bittupade. The assailants asked them if they could borrow some petrol. Sajid and Noufal agreed to help them and got off the bike. Within seconds, they were attacked with sharp weapons. Sajid has sustained severe injuries on his hand and stomach. He is currently undergoing treatment,” SP Reddy added.
DCP Hanumantharaya said that although they suspect that Sajid and Noufal may have been attacked as a retaliation for Sharat’s death, the police also doubt that drug peddlers were involved in the attack.
Prohibitory orders have been extended till July 11 in Dakshina Kannada district.
Prior to Sharat’s stabbing, a Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) leader, Mohammed Ashraf Kalyi was brutally hacked to death in broad daylight by bike-borne assailants.
Police had arrested the accused on June 26, and it was revealed that they were right-wing activists.
Ashraf’s murder investigation revealed that it was a revenge killing by pro-Hindu activists for the murder of a man named Rakesh Poojary, which had occurred in 2014.
Communal clashes erupted on July 18, before Ashraf’s death and members of the two communities had resorted to pelting stones at each other.
Meanwhile, six police teams, including two of the crime branch, have been tasked with tracing Sharat’s attackers.
CM Siddaramaiah, who was in Mangaluru to address a Congress convention, warned of stringent action against people who disrupt communal harmony.
“Anti-social elements are bent on trying to disturb peace. We will see that no one takes the law into their hands. I have told the police to tackle the situation,” he said.
Read: