Bantwal, May 29: The team of police officials investigating the murder case of Bajrang Dal activist Rajesh Poojary, who was killed on March 21 in Bantwal taluk, have been accused of picking up innocent Muslim youth residing in Mallur village in the same taluk and arresting them on false charges.
The families of the three youth have alleged foul play by the police due to the pressure yielded by members of the Sangh Parivar. They have accused the police of barging into houses and arresting innocent youth from poor families who earned their livelihood doing small jobs without any basis or factual evidence.
The three who are accused of murdering the Bajrang Dal activist-Hussain, 20, Irshad, 21, and Imran, 20-had no links with any group, faction or organization, and neither were they part of any political party.
The bread-winners of the families, the three youth are now languishing in jail without being granted bail. The families have also alleged that the youth were beaten up and tortured by the police into wrongly confessing the crime.
Financial problems have also disheartened the parents of these youth from approaching the high court for bail. All in all, the families of the youth find that the recklessness of the police officials in-charge Rajashekhar Maistry and Lingappa Poojary has ruined the lives of the youth.
Hussain is the second son of Jaafar-Khatoon couple living in a small tiled-roof house in Demmale in Mallur. Since both parents are physically unwell, Hussain was the sole bread-winner of the family ever since the eldest son had left home few years ago. He earned his livelihood by doing off jobs such as selling pickles and sharpening knives.
Even after the murder that took place on March 21, he was in the village, going about his work and playing cricket as usual, unlike someone who had committed a crime. Without any proof, the police entered the house and arrested him on March 30.
He is said to have been picked up by the police and tortured for several hours in police custody. However, Hussain 's mother Khatoon tells that he was not even familiar with the person who was killed.
Irshad, son of Hasainar and Nafeesa, was also a bread-winner for the family. He was arrested by the police a day later while he was returning home after playing cricket, which was his pastime.
Son of Hasainar and Shahida couple, Imran also worked as a lorry driver for a living. He was arrested while he was travelling in a bus.
When the parents of the youth arrived at the police station in the night, they found only Haneef, who worked as a coolie and Irfan, who was a high school student, there. Irfan 's hand was badly injured by beatings.
The families say that the police had bowed to the pressure of saffron organizations who had given the police an ultimatum till March 31 to arrest the culprits in the murder case. Fearing a severe backlash, the police have fixed ' the three innocent youth, they claim.
Family members of the arrested youth had also participated in the protest rally led by DYFI district president Muneer Katipalla on May 27. He informed that the organization along with family members will hold a 24-hour hunger strike demanding a fair reinvestigation into the murder case in front of the deputy commissioner 's office in Mangalore on June 4.
Husain, Irshad, Imran
Parents of Husain
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