The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR in the Paresh Mesta case, four months after the 18-year-old was found dead at Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district.
There was communal tension in the area after his body was found in a lake in December 2017, with the BJP alleging that Mesta was murdered.
The CBI, which will start the probe soon, has taken cognisance of the contents of the FIR registered at the Honnavar police station.
FIR at Honnavar
The FIR filed by the CBI, dated April 23, is a reproduction of the one registered at the Honnavar station on December 8, 2017. It states that the accused had gathered near Honnavar bus stand on December 6.
Members of one community suddenly started pelting stones and “by using deadly weapons such as iron rod, sword, sickle went on damaging temple, shops, tempos and assaulting public and at this time, they brutally killed Paresh Mesta…” According to the FIR, based on a complaint launched by the victim’s father, the body was later thrown in Shettikere lake to destroy any evidence.
The case has been registered under IPC sections 143(unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting) 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 302, (punishment for murder) 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 149 (offence committed by a member of unlawful assembly) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy), against the accused: Azad Annigeri, Ashif Rafiq, Mahamad Faisal, Imtiyaz Gani, and Salim.
