MANGALURU: With the prevailing tensions following the murder of pickup truck driver Abdul Rahiman, the police in Dakshina Kannada district are keeping a close watch on Hindu leaders and activists and cases have also been registered against some of them.
However, the BJP has criticised the move alleging that the Congress is indulging in politics of vengeance. District BJP president Satish Kumpala said, “We trusted that the situation would improve under the new police commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy, but Hindu leader from the Sangh Parivar and BJP are being targeted and cases are being registered. We will not tolerate this”.
Late on Sunday night, the police visited the homes of Hindu leaders and activists and filed fresh cases against some of them. They also registered a case against RSS functionary Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat for hate speech.
Dakshina Kannada district has been rocked by murders with the most recent being of Hindu activist Suhas Shetty and Abdul Rahiman, secretary of a mosque in Bantwal. Arrests have been made in both cases, but the Muslim community has vented its anger against the Congress government alleging that those who made hate speeches in the aftermath of Suhas Shetty’s death were not arrested and only cases were registered against them.
Following this, Anupam Agarwal and Yatish P were removed as Mangaluru city police commissioner and Dakshina Kannada district police superintendent, respectively, and Sudheer Kumar Reddy and Dr Arun Kumar posted in their places.
On Sunday night, the Dakshina Kannada district SP ordered the police to visit the houses of Hindu activists in Kadaba taluk. “The police arrived all of a sudden, took GPS-tagged photos of the houses and vehicles of VHP leaders and treated them as criminals. Some of us staged a protest in front of the Kadaba police station, but they registered cases against 15 of us”, said Pramod Rai, joint secretary of the VHP district unit.
“This has been going on for the last few days and the police are calling us to different locations. Instead, they can just telephone us and we will turn up at the police station”, he added.
BJP MLC N Ravikumar said, “They don’t file cases against those who raise pro-Pakistan slogans, but target Hindu leaders. Not only Muslim, Hindus too have been murdered in Dakshina Kannada district and they have made provocative speeches also. But the police are targeting only Hindu leaders”.
