SDPI instigated mob, triggered B’luru riots: NIA charge sheet

The 301-page charge sheet details how the leaders of SDPI, a political group formed in June 2009, planned to use a provocative post by the relative of a prominent politician to stoke communal riots in the KG Halli and DJ Halli neighbourhoods of Bengaluru.

The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) instigated the mob that triggered the violence in Bengaluru in the late hours of August 11, according to a charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday.

Three people died after a mob went on a rampage in reaction to a communally charged Facebook post by a relative of Pulakeshinagar Congress legislator, Akhanda Srinivas Murthy. (AFP PHOTO.)

The 301-page charge sheet details how the leaders of SDPI, a political group formed in June 2009, planned to use a provocative post by the relative of a prominent politician to stoke communal riots in the KG Halli and DJ Halli neighbourhoods of Bengaluru.

“The SDPI in Bengaluru was unhappy with the decisions of the Central government on certain matters i.e, repeal of Article 370, issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), Supreme Court verdict on Babri Masjid case, Triple Talaq, etc. They were waiting for an opportunity to create communal disharmony in the country,” according to the charge-sheet.

Three people died after a mob went on a rampage in reaction to a communally charged Facebook post by a relative of Pulakeshinagar Congress legislator, Akhanda Srinivas Murthy.

The NIA charge-sheet states that Naveen, the relative of Murthy was entrapped into reacting to a derogatory post. The document says that the SDPI, which had been taking up civic and other issues,was also looking to exploit emotive religious issues such as the Bhoomi Poojan for the Ram temple in Ayodhya. and agitations against CAA/NRC.

The charge-sheet states that Fairoz Pasha joined hands with Mohammed Shariff, Muzammil Pasha and other SDPI leaders in Bengaluru and “hatched a criminal conspiracy”. The NIA stated that the group decided to post derogatory messages insulting Hindu gods and the community through Fairoz’s Facebook account. They intentionally selected August 11, 2020, Krishna Janmashtami, to post the message, the NIA said.

The NIA added that Fairoz posted video and audio clips of BJP minister Murugesh Nirani that was seen to hurt Hindu sentiments.He tagged Naveen, the relative of Srinivas Murthy. The post by Naveen triggered a violent reaction with a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed and a derogatory insinuation.

“This charge-sheet is pre-planned and prejudiced. This is the same thing that happened in Delhi (the Delhi riots case) and this report is a copy-paste of the same report,” Afsar Kodlipet, a senior office bearer of the SDPI in Karnataka, said in a video message.

“The person named as accused 1 (Fairoz) is not a SDPI member. We have not got a copy of the charge-sheet and when we get it, will study it,” he added.