Mattar Ratnakar Hegde, president of the Udupi district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said on Thursday that the State government should ban Popular Front of India (PFI) and Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) as they were behind the killings of Hindutva activists in the State.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Hegde said that the recent murder of the youth, Paresh Mesta, in Kumta had shown that the State government had no control over the law and order machinery. The intelligence department and some pro-Hindu organisations had warned the authorities of a likelihood of a communal clash in the area, but no action was taken on it.
The murder had taken place on December 6 and it was covered up by the police as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was on a two-day tour of the district on the occasion. The murder was revealed only on December 8, he said.
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Mr. Hegde said that Paresh Mesta’s father had stated that the body was found in a mutilated form. Yet the preliminary post-mortem report had spoken of no signs of injury on the body. It appears that the post-mortem report had been twisted.
“The decision of the State government to hand over the case of Paresh Mesta to the CBI is to be welcomed,” he said.
The State government should give compensation to the family of Paresh Mesta. He questioned why Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had not visited and consoled Paresh Mesta’s family. “It would be better if all cases of murder of Hindutva activists in the State were handed over to the National Investigation Agency,” he said.
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The BJP would be holding a mega rally at Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district on December 18 on the issue of Paresh Mesta’s murder. A large contingent of BJP workers from Udupi district will participate in the rally. Jagadish Shettar, former Chief Minister, and K.S. Eshwarappa, Leader of the BJP in the Legislative Council, will address the gathering in Honnavar.
The BJP would be holding a dharna on the issue at the Martyr’s Memorial here at 4 p.m. on Friday, he said.