Seven Bajrang Dal activists held for assault on butcher

Seven Bajrang Dal activists were arrested in Doddaballapur for assaulting a poultry shop owner who put up a WhatsApp status over the alleged suicide of a cow vigilante. A court later released them on bail.

Naresh Reddy, Madhu Begale, Bhaskar, Giri, Arjun Virat, Shashi and Mohana, all from Doddaballapur, were booked under IPC sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 448 (punishment for house-trespass) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt).

On June 9, around 5 pm, police constable Murthy found eight men beating Waseem Syed, who runs a poultry shop, near ‘D’ Cross in Doddaballapur.

He alerted other police personnel to come to the spot but the suspects fled from the spot by then.

Syed told the police had he put up a WhatsApp status, saying that anyone like Shivu Uppar, 19, a cow vigilante, should meet the same fate. Uppar had allegedly committed suicide in Basavana Bagewadi, Vijayapura district, on May 23.

The Bajrang Dal activists took objection to Syed’s WhatsApp status, barged into his shop and abused and assaulted him.

Controversy over death

Uppar’s death is controversial. While police concluded that it was a suicide, right-wing activists claimed he was murdered before being hanged.

Police did not find an eyewitness account. The post-mortem report was also inconclusive. Police later arrested two people for their social media posts that Uppar was murdered by cattle smugglers when he tried to protect cattle.