Shivamogga/Bengaluru, Apr 5: Shivamogga Superintendent of Police, Ravi D Channannavar, has clarified that the murder of Manjunath (33) on February 20 had nothing to do with the communal clash that took place on February 19 during the Unity March taken out by Popular Front of India in the city.
It may be recalled here that the Sangh Parivar leaders had held PFI activists responsible for murder. During the funeral procession of Vishwanath Shetty, who was also murdered in the wake of communal violence triggered by Sangh Parivar miscreants in Shivamogga, BJP leaders had threatened to retaliate for both the murders. The funeral procession had exacerbated communal violence.
“Six persons have been arrested in connection with the murder of Manjunath. The sister of the deceased had lodged a complaint in Tunganagar police station on February 21 that the murder of his brother was communally motivated. But, the investigation has revealed that a property dispute was the reason behind the murder. The complainant is the fourth accused in the case,” Channannavar said.
The arrested have been identified as Arunakumar (25), Arun (24), Dakshayinamma (40), Netravati (28) and Shwetha (20), residents of Gondichatnalli in Shivamogga taluk, and Sachin (23), a resident of Mallikarjun Layout in the city. All of them are family members and relatives of the deceased. Ironically, they are also close associates of Sangh Parivar.
During the investigation, the accused confessed to murdering Manjunath on the night of February 20 and dumping the body in a site behind Padma Theatre at Gopala Extension in the city.
The suspects and Manjunath had a dispute over a site in Gondichatnalli.?He went to Gondichatnalli on the night of February 18 and fought with them over the piece of land. The suspects conspired to murder him as they could no longer tolerate his acts, the police added.
Accordingly, Dakshayinamma invited her brother for dinner at her house on February 20. After he arrived, the suspects attacked him with a log and stabbed him repeatedly, killing him on the spot. They took the body on a bike and dumped it in a vacant space near Padma Theatre. They decided to project the murder as the outcome of the religious violence so that their act remained undisclosed, the police said.
DG&IGP Om Prakash has announced a cash prize of Rs one lakh to the special team of police for cracking the case. The case was initially probed by Sagar sub-division DySP Nandini and later it was handed over to Shivamogga sub-division DySP Dr Ram L?Arasiddi.?
The DySP and his team comprising Kote Circle CPIs S?M?Deepak and Kumar arrested the accused.?The team was guided by SP Ravi D?Channannavar and Additional SP?S?S?Naik.
Also Read: Attack on PFI rally leads to communal violence, one killed, several injured
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