The Bengaluru City police have arrested six activists associated with the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) for the attack on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist Varun Bhoopalam, 31, on December 22 following an ‘India with CAA’ rally.
City police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said the SDPI activists had planned to kill Hindu leaders at the rally, but were deterred by the heavy police presence at the rally, prompting them to attack Varun Bhoopalam in Kalasipalya on his way back home.
The rally was addressed by Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and Yuva Brigade founder and BJP supporter Chakravarthy Sulibele. But the Commissioner did not explicitly name the duo as targets and only said they had come to target “Hindu leaders at the venue”.
Mr. Surya, talking to media persons, said Mr. Rao called him on Thursday night and informed him of the conspiracy. “The city police have provided me with a gunman,” he said.
The arrested have been identified as: Mohammed Irfan, 33, a ladies tailor, Syed Akbar, 46, a mechanic, Sanaulla Sherief, 28, an electrician – all residents of RT Nagar; Syed Siddique Akbar, 30, a civil contractor and a resident of Lingarajapuram; Akbar Basha, 27, a delivery boy with an e-commerce firm and a resident of KG Halli; Sadiq Ul Amin, 39, a sound system rental shopkeeper and resident of Shivajinagar.
On December 22, the gang of six had worn saffron clothes and been to the venue of the ‘India with CAA’ rally in front of Town Hall and merged with the crowd there, Mr. Rao said. “Their plan was to pelt stones on the crowd to create chaos. They thought this would disperse the crowd leaving the leaders isolated when they would kill them,” he said.
The gang did pelt seven stones on the crowd, of which one fell very near to a person, but the gathering was so large it did not affect the crowd and did not come to the notice of the policemen as well, Mr. Rao said.
“As their plan failed, the gang wanted to kill any of the Hindu workers who attended the rally. They followed Varun Bhoopalam who was on his way home on a bounce bike. They attacked him near Kalasipalya and fled towards Bidadi. In fact, two of them returned to see if the man had indeed died. But by then Varun was shifted to Victoria Hospital and later survived,” Mr. Rao said.
The accused had worn multiple shirts to avoid being identified. “They burnt some of the clothes they had worn and threw the weapons used in the attack into Anchepalya lake near NICE Road and helmets into a lake in Ramamurthy Nagar. They had smeared black soot on the number plates of the vehicles they used,” police said.
“We analysed footage from 700 CCTV cameras along the path of Town Hall to the scene of crime to identify the accused,” Mr. Rao said.
“All the accused are associated with SDPI and they are being paid ₹10,000 every month. We will now probe as to who was financing them. All of them are Muslim fundamentalists. But several Muslim religious and political leaders have helped us in this investigation and want them arrested. Only these men and the organisation are involved. We don’t want the community to be tarnished with the same brush,” Mr. Rao said.
The City Commissioner said the case needs to be probed further to uncover the larger conspiracy behind the gang including their funding. “The case will be probed by Anti-Terror Squad of Central Crime Branch,” he said.
Mr. Surya told media persons that he would speak on banning SDPI to Union Home Ninister Amit Shah who will be in the State on Saturday to address a pro-CAA rally in Hubballi. “SDPI has been behind several murders of RSS and Hindu right-wing workers in Karnataka. Workers of the same organisation are said to be behind the recent violence in Mangaluru and attack on senior Congress leader Tanveer Sait. I demand the Chief Minister and Home Minister to take steps to ban this organisation,” he said.
Akram Hassan, secretary, SDPI, Karnataka, said the party was deliberately being dragged through the mud. “Ours is a mainstream registered political party contesting elections across the country, abiding by the constitution and do not subscribe to violence in any form. If any individuals, even those associated with the party, are involved in a crime, the party is not responsible for those actions. Do police blame other parties when their workers are arrested for crimes?,” he said.
