Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya on Tuesday said the Karnataka government must treat the murder of Bajrang Dal activist in Shivamogga like an act of terror, and set up a special unit to deal with such cases as the police alone are inadequate.
Surya spoke to reporters in Shivamogga after visiting the home of Harsha Jingade, better known as Harsha Hindu, the activist who was murdered on Sunday night in Bharati Nagar, just off the busy Thirthalli highway.
“The cycle of murders of Hindu activists in Karnataka is a planned criminal conspiracy by few radical Islamic organisations. These incidents should not be treated as isolated murder cases but must be treated as acts of terror. Treating as Isolated murders will derail investigation & real perpetrators won’t be apprehended. Hence, Harsha’s case must be prosecuted u/s UAPA & investigation must be comprehensive,” Surya said in a post on Twitter.
The statements come when the district witnessed widespread violence on Monday during the funeral procession of Harsha, where mobs attacked Muslim neighbourhoods, damaging property and hurting people as a retaliation to the killing. Several BJP leaders have questioned the handling of the incident, which has added pressure on chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. Six persons, all Muslims, have since been arrested in the case.
“Karnataka needs an exclusive anti-terror cell that has adequate resources to monitor, college intelligence, preempt & investigate acts of terror in coordination with NIA. The existing police force is simply inadequate to deal with the threat of terror. Request hon CM to announce setting up of this exclusive unit in the upcoming Budget on March 1,” Surya added.
{{/usCountry}}“Karnataka needs an exclusive anti-terror cell that has adequate resources to monitor, college intelligence, preempt & investigate acts of terror in coordination with NIA. The existing police force is simply inadequate to deal with the threat of terror. Request hon CM to announce setting up of this exclusive unit in the upcoming Budget on March 1,” Surya added.
{{/usCountry}}Surya and the BJP are leaving no opportunity to attack organisations like the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates like the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) as behind the “organised’ killings of Hindu workers.
Surya said that the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government should amend the
Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act, 2000 (KCOCA) to declare such entities as ‘organised crime syndicates’ to help break the nexus behind them.
“Karnataka government must prepare a thorough dossier on the radical organisations in the state and request GOI to outlaw these outfits, in line with UP govt. The dossier must be comprehensive & based on irrefutable evidence that will stand the judicial test,” he added.