Sri Ram Sene has said that the Belagavi Police were trying to falsely claim that the death of Shivu Uppar, a young man who was found hanging to death in the Hire Bagewadi APMC Market Yard in Belagavi last month, was a case of suicide. It said that it was a murder by cow smugglers. It demanded that the case be handed over to the CBI. Sene founder Pramod Mutalik addressed his supporters on CPED Grounds in Belagavi and said that the police was trying to cover up the offence. He said that the victim had released a video statement on social media two days before his death expressing the apprehension that cow smugglers might kill him. The police have not investigated this obvious clue. They have not arrested anyone who was named by the victim in his video.
The police are trying to cover up the case on instructions from the State government which wants to protect cow smugglers, Mr. Mutalik said. He also said that the State government was tacitly supporting cow smugglers and beef traders across the State and was not booking any cases against them, though there was unchecked violation of cow-related laws in the State. He and his supporters marched to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and handed over a memorandum seeking transfer of Shivu Uppar’s case to the CBI.
Earlier, Chandrashekar Goudar, a youth from Raichur who was participating in the protest, tried to drink poison seeking justice for Shivu Uppar. The police shifted him to the district hospital where he was treated. He is recovering and has been shifted to the general wards, doctors said.
