Karnataka Police hand Shivamogga Bajrang Dal activist murder probe to NIA

Mangalore Today News Network

Shivamogga, Mar 24, 2022: The Karnataka government has handed over the investigation into the murder of a Bajrang Dal worker in Shivamogga city of the state, which occurred on February 20, to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

 

The NIA registered a formal complaint in the case of the murder of Bajrang Dal activist Harsha Nagaraj alias Harsha Hindu, 27, in a New Delhi court Wednesday after being handed the investigation, police sources said. On March 2, the Karnataka Police invoked sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, against 10 people arrested in the February 21 murder case. The NIA is expected to seek custody of the arrested suspects to carry out investigations in Shivamogga.

The invoking of the UAPA in March in this murder case was seen as a precursor to the handing over of the investigation into the case to the anti-terror NIA as sought by BJP leaders. Union Minister of State for Agriculture and BJP leader from Karnataka Shobha Karandlaje, in a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on February 22, sought a probe by the NIA in the murder of the right-wing activist.

“The UAPA has been invoked in the case. There is a suspicion of a larger conspiracy behind the murder than a localised rivalry,” said a senior state police official three weeks ago.

Provisions of the UAPA are usually invoked in cases of terrorism when there is evidence that a crime was carried out as part of a conspiracy to target national integrity. Police sources said the UAPA was invoked in the Harsha Hindu murder case since the Act can be applied in cases where a crime is carried out to create fear. UAPA gives police custody of suspects for 30 days and gives them 180 days to conduct investigations before filing charge sheets instead of 90 days of time in lesser crimes. The law is also very stringent when it comes to granting bail to the accused.

Harsha, a Bajrang Dal worker with a history of crimes in Shivamogga, was hacked to death by a local Muslim gang with whose members he allegedly had a long-running feud from around 2016 over local and religious issues. Ten people were arrested by the Shivamogga police in the week after the murder.

One of the accused Mohammed Kashif, 30, was in prison with Harsha in 2017. Several of the accused have multiple cases of assault, burglaries, and robberies against them.

Police sources said the murder was linked to a clash between Harsha and one of his attackers in the premises of a court around six months prior to the murder.

Although the Shivamogga police are yet to unearth a larger conspiracy in the murder and have suggested that a local rivalry between Hindu and Muslim gangs resulted in the murder, the Karnataka Police have indicated the suspicion of a larger conspiracy behind the murder that occurred amid protests on a ban on hijabs in colleges in the state. “The persons who carried out the murder were local criminals. There are serious doubts whether they could have executed a well-planned murder on their own. There is a suspicion of involvement of other forces,” said another senior police officer.

Harsha Hindu was involved in organising support for the ban on hijabs at some of the colleges in Shivamogga, police sources said.

Over the last few weeks, the police have also been pouring over records for crimes involving members of organisations like the Popular Front of India (PFI) to ascertain whether there are links to the accused in the February 20 murder in Shivamogga that triggered tension in the region. “There is a suspicion of involvement of a radical group in the case,” said a police source.

The Karnataka police have invoked provisions of the UAPA in a few murder cases of right-wing activists in the state in the past often to facilitate investigations by the NIA. In 2020, UAPA was invoked in two of 67 cases registered in connection with rioting that occurred in Bengaluru over a social media post that allegedly hurt the sentiments of Muslims. The two cases where UAPA was invoked were handed over to the NIA for investigations.

In 2016, the state police under the Congress government decided to invoke UAPA provisions in the murder of RSS worker R Rudresh. UAPA was invoked in the case days after the arrest of the Bengaluru district PFI president in connection with the murder. A year before that, the Mysuru police invoked UAPA provisions against a man Abid Pasha, who had PFI links, after finding his alleged involvement in six communal murders, including the killing of a Bajrang Dal activist.

Courtesy: Indian Express