Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday ordered issue of notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and the State government on a petition questioning invoking of the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against accused persons in the Rudresh murder case, a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and handing over of the case to the NIA for investigation.
Justice John Michael Cunha passed the order on the petition filed by Asim Shariff, a resident of the city and district president of the Popular Front of India, who has been arraigned as accused number five in the case based on the statements given by other accused. Rudresh was hacked to death on October 16, 2016, near Shivajinagar.
‘Media roared high’
It has been contended in the petition that the Commercial Street police, who originally registered the First Information Report (FIR) only under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, had later invoked Sections 15,16,17,18 and 20 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act merely because “media roared high by giving it a colour of communal killing or terrorist act by some Muslim extremist groups” though there was no material to establish that the murder had any link to terrorist activities.
The petitioner has also questioned the suo motu decision taken by the MHA to hand over the probe to the NIA in the absence of any recommendation from the State government.
