Praveen Nettaru, a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha member, was hacked to death on July 26 by unknown assailants. Several Hindu organisations had taken to the streets to protest against the brutal murder, calling for bandh in various parts of Karnataka. After this incident, outraged BJP Yuva Morcha members started to furnish mass resignations.
There is a massive protest in southern parts of Karnataka after Praveen Nettaru’s murder. Protests have broken out in Bellare and Sullia, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has called for a bandh. Hundreds of people escorted Praveen Nettaru’s dead body as it was taken to his home on July 27 in the morning. The deputy commissioner of police, Mangaluru, remarked that the situation is being thoroughly probed. He said, “I spoke to the family regarding the autopsy and the funeral. We will forward the family’s requests to the government.”
According to police, 15 persons have been held for interrogation, and six teams have been formed to find the murderers. Three squads have been sent to Hassan, Madikeri, and the adjacent state of Kerala. Hindu activists and BJP workers surrounded BJP state party president Nalin Kumar Kateel’s car and heckled him as they protested Praveen Nettaru’s murder, demanding answers from senior party leaders.
The Chief Minister of Karnataka, after the murder, said, “Govt will form a commando force with special training, intelligence, ammunition, resources to go after anti-national & terror groups conspiring to disrupt the peace & stir communal tensions in the state”.
Govt will form a commando force with special training, intelligence, ammunition, resources to go after anti-national & terror groups conspiring to disrupt the peace & stir communal tensions in the state: Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai, in an emergency press conference at midnight pic.twitter.com/U46Si8IUDr
— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2022
It is being reported that the assailants who murdered Praveen were riding a bike with a Kerala number plate. The CCTV footage from the neighbouring areas has been collected and the government has vowed to find the murderers soon.
As the angst of Hindu activists and BJP workers spills onto the streets after Praveen being the latest in a string of Hindu murders, there are two theories that have emerged in the murder case, that put Islamists smack in the middle of the storm.
The first theory that is being investigated by the authorities is if Praveen Nettaru’s murder was connected to the support he extended to Nupur Sharma and his posts that spoke against the murder of Kanhaiya Lal, who was beheaded by Islamists (for supporting Nupur Sharma). Praveen had also questioned the Congress government in Rajasthan over the beheading of Kanhaiya Lal.
In the Facebook post on June 29, Nettaru wrote about Kanhaiya Lal’s murder and his killers’ threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Questioning Congress leader Ramya Divya Spandana and others, he wrote in Kannada, “Where are you when a poor tailor was beheaded for supporting nationalist sentiments, and their next target is Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Where are you? Did your voice die because of burning? This death has taken place in a state that is ruled by the Congress. Don’t you show mercy to a poor tailor’s life.”
There have been a long list of Hindus who have been murdered and threatened after they either supported Nupur Sharma, ex BJP spokesperson, or spoke up against the murder of Kanhaiya Lal, who was beheaded by Islamists for speaking up in support of Nupur Sharma.
Even before Kanhaiya Lal was beheaded, another Hindu called Umesh Kohle was murdered for his support of Nupur Sharma. A family in Nagpur was also forced to flee their home because of threats by Islamists after social media posts that spoke in defence of Sharma. A 23-year-old man named Ankit Kumar Jha was also stabbed multiple times for watching a video of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on social media. The incident took place in the Sitamarhi district in the Tirhut Division of Bihar on July 15. In fact, only a couple of days before the murder of Praveen Nattaru, another youth, Nishank Rathore was found hacked on the railway tracks one day after his father received a message from his phone, that threatened to behead Nishank.
After multiple such incidents, there are suspicions that Praveen could have also been murdered because he spoke up against the beheading of Kanhaiya Lal. The Islamists have been any support to Nupur Sharma, or those murdered, like Kanhaiya Lal, as an affront to their “faith”. Chanting “Gustakh-e-Rasool ki saza, sar tan se juda” has become the norm for several pious Muslims because they view even speaking up for Kanhaiya Lal or Nupur Sharma as an insult to their Prophet.
The other theory that is being investigated by the authorities as a possible reason for Praveen’s murder is the death of a Muslim man from Kasaragod, Kerala called Masood only days earlier. On the 21st of July, Masood succumbed to his injuries in Mangaluru after he was beaten up by certain individuals. Reportedly, on the 19th of July, Masood had picked a fight with a Hindu boy called Sudhir. Masood had beaten Sudhir up brutally as a result of this quarrel that the former had picked. Later, Sudhir and 7 others assaulted Masood in retaliation. Masood was admitted to the hospital where he reportedly succumbed to his injuries.
The Bellare police arrested Abhilash, Sunil, Sudhir, Shiva, Ranjith, Sadashiva, Zym Ranjith and Bhaskar on July 20. They were accused of offences punishable under sections 143, 147, 323, 324 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code. Following the death of Masood, the eight arrested persons have also been accused of murder (Section 302 of IPC).
Reportedly, the police is now also investigating if the murder of Praveen Nettaru was an act of retaliation against the death of Masood.
According to a report by News18, PFI leader Shafi Bellare had issued open threats to avenge the death of Masood and police are investigating if it was PFI that carried out this murder. Notably, the murderers of Praveen were riding a bike with a Kerala number plate and Karnataka authorities are now investigating the role of PFI and Islamists from Kerala as well.
“He was very active and was at the forefront of managing programmes for the party. He was a dedicated RSS karyakarta and rose up the rungs of the BJP through his sheer hard work. He had friends in every community. The day he was killed, that afternoon he had visited the house of a Muslim friend and posted about it as well,” a friend of Praveen said, seeking anonymity, according to a News18 report.
“After Masood’s death, there were several threats going around about attacking Hindu leaders. We are sure Praveen was targeted for this very reason.” Sachin Shenoy, Puttur Yuva Morcha city president, told News18 that Praveen had informed the police of a possible threat.
“He told the police that he knew he was being followed. The local officers dismissed it and ridiculed him instead of providing police protection. They said he (Praveen) was not that big a leader to face a threat. Now we have lost a good soul and a loving human being. There is a limit to our patience as well,” Shenoy said.
Rakesh Rai, another senior office bearer of the BJP in Sullia said that Praveen had become an innocent target after the Karnataka police did not act against credible intelligence. He claimed that Praveen had become a target because the police did not act against intelligence that claimed that Islamists from Kerala were planning to target BJP workers from Karnataka.
It is, therefore, clear that there are several questions that the Karnataka government and security agencies need to answer. There have been allegations levelled against the Karnataka government by their own karyakartas that the agencies ignored credible security intelligence and also dismissed concerns of threats expressed by Praveen Nettaru himself.
