Suhas Shetty murder case: DK district BJP president, MLAs urge U T Khader to step down

Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada district BJP president Satish Kumpala, Mangaluru City South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath, and Mangaluru City North MLA Dr Bharath Shetty have urged Assembly Speaker U T Khader to step down for supporting the accused in Suhas Shetty murder case.

Addressing media persons at the district BJP office in Mangaluru on Tuesday, Kumpala said that U T Khader, instead of being unbiased as a Speaker, gave a clean chit to the accused even before the investigation was completed. 

Moreover, Khader and Congress leader Inayat Ali have been taking part in the cricket tournament organised by a person called Mohammad Mustafa in Kalasa who runs a homestay where Niyaz and the others accused, had been working. The Kalasa connection needs to be probed, he said urging U T Khader to resign. "Or else, the Governor should interfere and demand Khader's resignation," he added.

When Prasanth Poojary was murdered, Khader had stated that he would not visit the home of the murdered Hindu leader. "How did he visit Fazil's home earlier and pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh?" he asked while alleging that the compensation money handed over to Fazil's brother Adil had been used to murder Suhas Shetty.

U T Khader has misused his power to protect the accused, he said. He wanted to know why no case was filed against Khader for speaking to the accused over the phone.

He, meanwhile, urged Home Minister G Parameshwara to explain the powers and functions of the Anti-Communal Force which he had promised to establish.
"Let the government file as many cases as it can against Hindu youth. We are capable of fighting back," he added.

'Congress government is intolerant to Hindus'

He said that the murder of Suhas Shetty in Bajpe was in no way less than the terror attack in Pahalgam.

The Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is intolerant of Hindu citizens, he said. "All those who are justifying the murder of Suhas Shetty should clarify whether the state police have given permission to murder rowdy sheeters," Kumpala wanted to know.

He accused that even though there were intelligence inputs on the possible murder attempt of Suhas Shetty, it was not prevented.

This is a failure from the side of the police, he said, and urged Bajpe police personnel Rasheed who is allegedly involved in the case by leaking information to the murder accused.

Also, there has been a conspiracy behind the arrest of Ranjith and Nagaraj, he said. "There were more than 20 people in the murder spot. Why were they not arrested? What about the two Muslim women who were seen helping the accused," he asked.

"BJP has no faith in the investigation by the state police. Therefore, the case should be handed over to the NIA," he said.

"Why did the police not arrest those who had issued death threats to Hindu activists Sharan Pumpwell and Bharat Kumdel on social media? Kumpala asked. "The police, otherwise, act swiftly against those who post against CM Siddaramaiah," he pointed out.

He, meanwhile, demanded a probe into the foreign funds allegedly used for the murder of Suhas Shetty.

Sullia MLA Bhagirathi Murulya, leaders Sudhir Shetty Kannur, Premananda Shetty, Kishore Kumar were among those who were present at the press meet.

'Cooked up story by police department'

Mangaluru City North MLA Dr Y Bharat Shetty alleged that the modus operandi by the police on the arrest of the accused is a cooked-up story. Police authorities have said that some of the accused had surrendered themselves and some others were arrested from their houses, which is hard to believe.

He alleged that the section on Prevention of Unlawful Activities was not included in the Suhas Shetty murder case, to prevent it from being handed over to NIA.