Ramanagara police arrested on Wednesday (April 5) cow vigilante Puneeth Kerehalli and four of his associates in Rajasthan, where they were on the run after allegedly killing Idrees Pasha during an alleged cow rescue operation on April 1.
The other accused have been identified as Gopi, Pawan Kumar, Suresh Kumar and Pilling Ambigar. They are part of the Puneeth’s ‘Rashtra Rakshana Pade’, a self-styled Hindutva organization Kerehalli floated recently and is accused of indulging in several acts of cow vigilantism and communal campaigns against minorities.
The case had triggered criticism of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government as it came days ahead of the Assembly polls to be held on May 10. The Opposition has accused the government of a conspiracy to fan communal tensions and protect the accused.
Thirty-nine-year-old Idrees Pasha was part of the three-member team transporting cattle they bought from a fair in Maddur on March 31. They were intercepted by Kerehalli and his associates later that night at Sathanur, Kanakapura.
Pasha was found dead nearby hours later. His family alleged that there were “burn-like injuries” on his body and accused the cow vigilantes of torturing and killing him.
Based on his brother’s complaint, Sathanur Police registered a murder case against Kerehalli and his associates, and since then, the accused have been on the run.
The family members, speaking to The Hindu, demanded stringent action against the accused for taking the law into their hands and killing someone in the name of religion. However, police sources say the body did not have any antemortem injuries and only a postmortem report, which is awaited, can indicate if there was really foul play.
The accused soon switched off their mobile and escaped to Hubballi and Belagavi before reaching Gujarat via Maharashtra. Though they were on the move most of the time, Kerehalli often switched on his phone to upload video messages on his social media handles, which eventually gave them away, sources said.
On April 4, Puneeth Kerehalli posted a video accusing opposition party leaders Siddaramaiah and H.D. Kumaraswamy of being in collusion with ‘cow killers’.
Police teams following their movements alerted their Rajasthan counterparts, who tracked them down and picked them up from a town called Banswara in the State. A team of State police has left for Rajasthan to secure their custody and bring them to Sathanur.
“The accused have more than 10 cases pending against him which will also be probed,” said Karthik Reddy, SP, Ramanagara. Responding to a question from the media, he said no acts of vigilantism would be tolerated and requested members of the public to inform the police of any such acts of moral policing or vigilantism.
Idrees Pasha, assistant driver of a cattle van, was allegedly tortured before being killed by cow vigilantes in Sathanur police station limits, in Ramanagara district of Karnataka, on April 1, 2023.
