Cow vigilante Puneeth Kerehalli arrested in Rajasthan

The five men are wanted for murder after they stopped and attacked three men transporting cattle at Sathanur on March 31

Self-styled cow protection activist Puneeth Kerehalli and four of his associates were arrested in Rajasthan on Wednesday.

The five men are wanted for murder after they stopped and attacked three men transporting buffaloes at Sathanur, about 60 km southwest of Bengaluru, around midnight on March 31. They accused the trio of cow slaughter and asked them to go to Pakistan, according to the murder FIR.

Idrees Pasha (39), one of the three men, was found dead around 8.30 am on April 1.

Kerehalli and his men disappeared soon after the case came to the limelight. A resident of KR Road in Bengaluru, Kerehalli runs Rashtriya Rakshana Pade, an obscure outfit that champions cow vigilantism.

Also read | Police in hot pursuit, cow vigilante goes live on Facebook

Police had been tracking the five men from the first day. With phone tracking and other digital data, police surveilled the group as it headed northwards in a rented SUV to Hubballi, Belagavi, Nashik and Vadodara before entering Rajasthan.

With help from the local police, Ramanagara cops were able to catch them in Rajasthan’s Banswada district around 12.30 pm on Wednesday.

B R Ravikanthe Gowda, IGP (Central Range), said the men were being brought on a transit warrant from a court in Rajasthan. “We will question them once they reach Bengaluru,” he told DH.

A police officer said that the suspects were being brought by a flight and would land in Bengaluru by Wednesday night. They would be taken to Ramanagara afterwards, the officer added.

Another officer said no weapons were found in the SUV but added that the suspects’ homes would be searched on Thursday. “We will question them about the stun gun,” the officer said, referring to a firearm that Kerehalli mentioned during a Facebook live-stream.

Citing witnesses, the officer said Kerehalli and his team didn’t use the stun gun when they stopped the container truck in Sathanur.

The other suspects are Pillinga Ambigar from Basavanagudi; Gopi from Ramanagara district; Pavan Kumar from Thirthahalli, Shivamogga district; and Suresh Kumar from Raichur.