More than two days after the murder of a cattle trader in Karnataka’s Ramanagara district by Hindutva militants, the police have no clue about the whereabouts of the prime accused Puneeth Kerehalli who is often seen hobnobbing with top leaders of the ruling party. Even as criticism mounts against the BJP government for shielding the accused, the principal opposition parties are struggling to come up with an appropriate response in a region they dominate. A protest rally announced by the Congress, which has an MLA as well as an MP in the district, was called off at the last minute on Monday, April 3, without much explanation. And the JD(S), which has three MLAs in the district and a powerhouse in the Old Mysore region, appeared to be distracted by the feud between the families of party leaders HD Kumaraswamy and his brother HD Revanna.
While the incident has caused unrest among the Muslims in the region, prompting outfits such as the SDPI to organise a protest march to the Sathanur police station, the Congress and the JD(S) continue to remain largely subdued in their response to the atrocity. This is despite the fact that all the four Assembly constituencies in the Ramanagara district are represented by members from both these parties. The Congress and JD(S) restricted themselves to criticising the police and the ruling establishment through press conferences and media statements.
While leaders from both the opposition parties have condemned the incident, there hasn’t been any visible demonstration on the ground demanding the arrest of the accused. Justifying their failure in pressurising the state machinery and demanding quick action with regard to the case, Youth Congress leaders told TNM that they are not going to protest as they want to give the police time to do their job. “We want to deal with this issue in a peaceful manner,” said Anil Gowda, a Youth Congress leader in Ramanagara, sounding as if it is impossible to protest without resorting to violence.
The accused in the case 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. The FIR states that although Pasha showed the purchase documentation that the cattle was bought from the local market, Puneet abused him and demanded Rs 2 lakh to let him go. Puneet then allegedly asked Pasha to "Go back to Pakistan", chased and assaulted him, resulting in his death.
With the incident coming to light, photographs of Puneet with several prominent BJP leaders in Karnataka including South Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya, BJP national secretary CT Ravi, began to surface on social media, pointing to his proximity with the state’s ruling party.