BENGALURU: Five days after ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans were raised in the corridors of the Vidhana Soudha during the celebration of Congress Rajya Sabha candidate Syed Naseer Hussain’s victory, the Ashok Nagar police have arrested three people after the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report came out.
The arrested are Mohammed Iltaj (31) from Kishangunj, Delhi, Munaver Ahemad (29) from Jayamahal in Bengaluru and Mohammed Shafi Nashipudi (45) from Byadagi in Haveri district. The trio was taken for medical tests before being produced before the 39th ACCM court judge in Koramangala. The police had collected voice samples of 15 people of which the FSL report confirmed that the three had raised ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans.
In a press statement, the central division DCP said the arrests were made on the basis of the FSL report, circumstantial evidence, statements of witnesses and other evidence.
The development comes even as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM D K Shivakumar AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala were holed up in a meeting at a private hotel to discuss the party candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Minister Priyank Kharge, who had earlier flatly denied that any such slogans were raised, was also present at the meeting.
Frustrated & demoralised by their resounding defeat in the Rajya Sabha elections in #Karnataka, BJP leaders are peddling their favourite set of lowly lies of Pakistan Zindabad slogans being raised by supporters of Congress MP elect, Sh. @NasirHussainINC !
Not only is this an… pic.twitter.com/S8IlhVZVzW
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) February 28, 2024
The arrest has come as a major embarrassment for the ruling Congress as many of its ministers and MLAs had denied that pro-Pakistan slogans had been raised and even went on to claim that the slogans were in fact ‘Nasir Saab zindabad’ and ‘Nasir Khan zindabad’. Minister Priyank Kharge had even claimed that he had got the videos checked forensically and claimed that the slogan raised was ‘Nasir saab zindabad’. He had even refused to acknowledge a forensic examination report by a private expert.
AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, had tweeted a video and claimed that it had been fact-checked and that no pro-Pakistan slogans were raised, virtually giving the culprits a clean chit. Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar had claimed that she had heard the slogans 5-6 times and said that she never heard any such slogan. Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad had gone a step ahead and termed it as fake news. He had even accused the media of creating a political controversy and had demanded an apology.