Choosing not to react to the allegations that Urban Development Minister R. Roshan Baig was involved in the murder of her husband Rudresh, and RSS activist, Y. Vidyvathi said she was “averse to politics”.
“He never mixed politics with domestic affairs. This was because I don’t like politics,” she told The Hindu . She added that Rudresh had not received any threat calls. “Since he never discussed politics at home, he never told me about it.”
Apart from being in the RSS cadre, Rudresh was running a mobile shop and recently started taking civil contracts, she added.
Interrogation on
In a follow-up on the murder investigation, the police have taken Asim Shariff, the district president of the Popular Front of India (PFI) into police custody till November 16.
A senior police officer said, “We are literally at a dead-end now. We will have to interrogate him and only then can we get some clarity in the case. We also have to find out if he had directed Mohamed Majidullah, Mohammed Sadiq, Wasim Ahmed and Irfan Pasha to commit the murder.”
There were also rumours doing the rounds that the case may be taken up by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). But, senior police officers said this would not be necessary as the Bengaluru city police had already cracked the case.
Demand for NIA or CBI probe
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has accused Mr. Baig of playing a role in the murder, has demanded that he step down from the ministry, and a CBI or NIA probe be ordered.
Speaking to The Hindu , Shobha Karandlaje, BJP State general secretary and MP, demanded that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah convene a meeting of his Cabinet on Saturday to hand over the murder probe to either the CBI or the NIA, and to keep Mr. Baig out of the ministry pending an inquiry. She said the BJP will stage a protest seeking his resignation in Bengaluru on November 8. She alleged that the government was bringing pressure on the State police team to hush up the case.
Ban sought on parties
Ms. Karandlaje said a delegation of BJP top leaders from the State is likely to meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on November 9 to seek a ban on the Social Democratic Party of India, the Karnataka Forum for Dignity, and the People’s Front of India (PFI), in connection with the attacks on RSS workers.
