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After Tejasvi Surya’s comments, police quiz 16 Muslim Covid warriors: Official
The manager of the agency that staffed the BBMP war room in Bengaluru said he and the 16 staffers identified by Tejasvi Surya were summoned by the police for questioning
Sixteen Muslim men, whose names were read out by Bengaluru south MP Tejasvi Surya, were questioned till 3 am on Wednesday after the WhatsApp chats alleged that they were “terrorists”. Even though these men were not mentioned in any of the FIRs registered by the Bengaluru police in connection with the “bribe for bed” scam, they were allegedly questioned after the MP raised questions about their qualifications, said an official of Jayanagar police station.
Describing the events that followed Suraya’s remarks, a manager at the agency Shivu Naayak said soon after their names started coming on social media, they came to the office seeking help. “They were concerned because the messages that followed MP’s remarks called them terrorists. On Tuesday, Jayanagar police contacted us, and all the 16 employees and I were summoned to the police station,” he said.
He added that all of them were questioned till 3 am and they were left off, with instruction that they should report police when required.
Following the interrogation, all the men have been placed under suspension by the agency until the police investigation is over. “These 16 men are currently placed under suspension till the allegation against them is cleared. They will not be paid during their suspension; however, they have been told that they will get their jobs back once the enquiry is over,” Naik added.
The manager dismissed the allegation that these men were involved in a bed booking scam. “WhatsApp messages are calling them terrorists, but except for one person, none of them was directly involved in bed booking. They were responsible for the helpline, home isolation, indexing, death and discharge. Even the person working in the bed allotment had joined recently,” he added.
Talking about recruitment, he said that none of them was recruited together. They were among the many candidates who applied and got selected for the post.
During the inspection on the centre as part of exposing the bribe for bed scam on Tuesday, Surya, who was accompanied by MLAs Satish Reddy and Ravi Subramanya, was seen reading out the names of the 16 Muslim employees at the centre and demanded the qualifications of these persons.
Soon after the MP’s press conference about his inspection, a WhatsApp message titled “List of terrorists working in BBMP WAR ROOM killing thousands of Bengalurians” began doing rounds in Bengaluru. The message listed 16 of the 17 names mentioned by the Surya in his live stream. HT could not ascertain the origin of the WhatsApp message.
On Thursday, workers of Karnataka Pradesh Congress filed a criminal complaint against Surya for making communal and inflammatory remarks during his visit to the BBMP south zone war room. Five different complaints have been filed against Surya by Congress leaders and workers across the city.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Harish Pandey denied that any person other than those relevant to the investigation has been called for interrogation. “The doctors who were in custody have given the names of a few people and we have questioned them. We are not following any particular list that has been doing rounds on social media. We are following police procedures. We have questioned only those who were relevant to the case,” he said.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress on Thursday alleged that MP Tejasvi Surya and a party MLA, were behind the scam involving blocking of hospital beds meant for Covid patients in the city. The Congress mounted the attack citing reports in a section of the media alleging BJP MLA Sathish Reddy’s involvement.
“It’s like the pot calling the kettle black. The truth has come out now that the BJP leaders are behind the bed blocking scam. Arrest Satish Reddy who has been operating the bed booking scam with the help of his supporters, and the young MP (Tejasvi Surya) who accompanied him, and carry out a detailed investigation,” the Congress tweeted.
Satish Reddy was not available for his comment.
