Congress activist alleges he was forced to record apology video by Mangaluru police over FB post

MANGALURU: A Congress activist, who is an aide of KPCC general secretary Inayat Ali, has alleged that he was forced by the Mangaluru police to record a video issuing an apology for a Facebook post he had posted earlier regarding a mob lynching case. Sajith Shetty went live on Facebook and threatened to commit suicide and said the police would be responsible in the case of his death.

A few days ago, Sajith Shetty had posted on Facebook regarding the mob lynching of Ashraf at Kudupu questioning why the accused, who is allegedly close to a BJP leader, was not arrested even after 52 days since the incident. Following this, he claimed, that he was summoned to the CEN police station where ACP Ravish Nayak had taken an undertaking from him and let him go after questioniong.

However, Sajith Shetty has claimed that he was summoned the next day by ACP Prakash and inspector Arun, threatened to record a video of his apology and made to upload it on his Facebook page. He also alleged that the police themselves had shared the video widely.

Sajith Shetty claimed that he was mentally harassed and added that if there was any threat to his life, the Mangaluru police would be responsible. He also claimed that he had decided to commit suicide unable to bear the harassment.

A couple of days ago, Police Commissioner Sudhir Kumar Reddy had announced that social media trial of any criminal case would also amount to a crime. However, Sajith Shetty pointed out that he was harassed even before the directive was issued. He was in the forefront of a protest and social media campaign to seek justice for the mob lynching of Ashraf in Kudupu.