Blaming the BJP’s politics for the recent communal tensions in Dakshina Kannada, Dinesh Gundu Rao, the Karnataka minister in charge of the sensitive district, released a police order declaring as a rowdy-sheeter Suhas Shetty, the Bajrang Dal worker killed in Mangaluru on April 30.
“The rowdy sheet against Suhas Shetty was opened in 2020. BJP was in power then. (MP and former CM) Basavaraj Bommai was the Home Minister then. Why did the BJP leaders depicting Suhas as a mahatma include him in the rowdy list?” the health and family welfare minister wrote on X on Tuesday.
Shetty’s murder has taken on communal overtones in Mangaluru and surrounding regions, with BJP leaders demanding an inquiry by the National Investigation Agency into what they describe as the killing of a “Hindu activist”.
Rao accused the BJP of using coastal Karnataka as a laboratory for experiments in hate politics. “When they are in power, they create criminals. They open rowdy sheets against them. As soon as they die, they are turned into martyrs and portrayed as great men,” the minister contended.
He alleged that many had lost their lives in the coastal region owing to the BJP’s political designs. “Yet, their thirst for blood is not satiated. They are playing evil politics with an intention to cause more deaths in the coastal region,” he added.
The document shared by the minister showed that the Mangaluru police commissionerate had opened the rowdy-sheet against Shetty on June 18, 2020, after multiple cases were registered against him. It also said that if unrestrained under the law, Shetty could continue with criminal activities.
Referring to an intelligence report, the rowdy-sheet described him as a threat to communal harmony around Bajpe, near Mangaluru, as he was frequently involved in fights, assaults and attempts to murder.
Story continues below this ad
Shetty was an accused in the 2022 murder of Mohammad Fazil, which is said to have taken place in retaliation to BJP youth wing leader Praveen Nettaru’s murder in Dakshina Kannada. Before Shetty was killed, a migrant labourer from Kerala, Ashraf, was lynched by a mob beside a ground at Kudupu, also near Mangaluru.
Following Shetty’s murder, prohibitory orders were imposed in Mangaluru till May 6 to prevent any untoward incidents. Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka and other BJP leaders paid respects to Shetty.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
