HD Kumaraswamy visits murder victim Masood's house in Dakshina Kannada
In a political one-upmanship, JDS second-in-command HD Kumaraswamy beat CM Bommai in paying a visit to the kin of those recently murdered in Dakshina Kannada district. Kumaraswamy, along with JDS workers, visited murder victim Masood's house and handed over a ₹5 lakh cheque to his family.
Karnataka's former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday visited the family of Masood, an 18-year-old youth who was murdered in Bellare, and handed over a cheque of ₹5 lakh on behalf of the Janata Dal (Secular) party of which he is second-in-command. Kumaraswamy's move is being seen as a political one-upmanship after chief minister Basavaraj Bommai's statement on the same day that he will visit murder victims Masood and Fazil's residences.
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Masood's murder took place before BJP Yuva Morcha worker Praveen Nettaru's killing. Another youth, Mohammed Fazil (23), was hacked to death at Surathkal after Nettaru's death. These back-to-back murders have led people to find a link between cases, which has put increased pressure on the police force to nab the culprits at the earliest. The police have arrested eight people in connection with the Masood murder case and three in connection with Nettaru's so far.
Bommai came under criticism from all quarters on the alleged discrimination meted out by his government in dealing with these recent murders in the communally sensitive Dakshina Kannada district. Several BJP leaders had visited Nettaru’s house on July 28, and handed over a cheque of ₹25 lakhs from the government and an additional ₹25 lakhs from the party.
JDS leader Kumaraswamy took to Twitter to share images from his visit to Puttur taluk and wrote, “Condolences to the family members of Masood, who was murdered in Bellare village of Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. On this occasion, a cheque of ₹5 lakhs from the @JanataDal_S party was handed over. ”
“The grieving family must overcome this pain. The party will provide all kinds of assistance to the family,” he added.
JDS state president CM Ibrahim, legislative council members BM Farooq, Bhoje Gowda and JDS leaders of Dakshina Kannada district were also present, Kumaraswamy said.
