Karnataka govt to form task force to combat communal crimes in coastal districts

Mangaluru: Bajrang Dal leader Suhas Shetty (30), whose murder on May 1 brought Dakshina Kannada to the brink, was a victim of a revenge attack linked to the 2022 murder of Mohammed Fazil (23), Mangaluru Police said on Saturday, after arresting eight individuals, including Fazil’s elder brother, Adil Mehroof (27).

Police said Mehroof, of Mangalapete in Baala village, paid ₹3 lakh to the assailants to kill Shetty, who was the primary accused in Fazil's murder case. "The arrested individuals were not part of any organisation. Most of them were friends, and some were hired goons," Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal told Onmanorama.

Shetty -- accused in two murder cases and three assault cases -- was murdered three days after Mohammed Ashraf (38), a Malayali Muslim ragpicker with mental illness, was lynched by Hindutva activists at a cricket ground in Mangaluru. Twenty individuals were arrested in connection with the lynching.

Shetty’s public murder strained the fragile communal harmony in coastal Karnataka. Hindutva organisations, led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), observed a hartal on May 2. Fearing immediate retaliatory attacks, Mangaluru Police imposed prohibitory orders, banning assemblies of more than three people in the city until 6 am on May 6.

Home Minister G Parameshwara, who visited Mangaluru following Suhas Shetty’s murder, said that the recent killings have disrupted normality in Dakshina Kannada district. Speaking at a press conference in Mangaluru on Saturday, the minister announced that the Karnataka government would establish an anti-communal task force, modelled on the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF), to address communal crimes in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. The task force, to be led by an officer of Inspector General rank, will be formed within 15 days, Parameshwara said.

The Home Minister said that communal incidents in coastal Karnataka had declined following a political march and campaign by the Congress across the region. "Recent incidents are once again disrupting communal harmony. There is a clear pattern behind them, and these forces will be effectively curtailed," he said.

He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other Hindutva groups of exploiting and glorifying the murder of Suhas Shetty for political gain. "The government and police acted swiftly and effectively after the murder to prevent the situation from escalating," the Home Minister said.

The public murder
Suhas Shetty was driving through Mangaluru with friends in an Innova on May 1. Around 8.30 pm at Kinnipadavu Junction in Bajpe village, a Swift car and a Bolero pickup slammed into his vehicle.

Six assailants leapt from the vehicles and attacked Shetty in the public square. Shetty, a native of Karinja village in Bantwal taluk, succumbed to his injuries shortly after reaching the hospital. CCTV footage of the attack went viral on social media. Mangaluru police cracked the case in two days.

Addressing a press conference after the arrests, Anupam Agrawal said Shetty was killed by a gang put together by Abdul Safwan (29) of Shantigudde in Bajpe village. Safwan, too, had a score to settle. He was grievously assaulted by Suhas Shetty's gang in 2023, and Surathkal police had booked five people in the case. Shetty's gang continued to threaten Safwan, said police.

Apart from Abdul Safwan and Adil Mehroof, the other six arrested were Niyaz (25) and Mohammed Musammir (32) of Shantigudde, Kalandar Shafi (29) of Baala, and Mohammed Rizwan (28) of Thokur -- all in Mangaluru -- along with Nagaraja M (20) and Ranjit (19) of Chikkamagaluru district. The young men from Chikkamagaluru were hired goons, said the police Commissioner.

Cycle of revenge killings
In July 2022, under BJP rule in Karnataka, Dakshina Kannada saw three communally charged killings in 10 days. Mohammed Masood, a Kasaragod native staying at Kalanja village in Sullia taluk, was the first victim. A house painter, he was taunted by VHP activists over keeping a calf.

On July 19, after a public altercation, the Gau Rakshas lured Masood under the pretence of reconciliation and fatally assaulted him. Bellare police arrested eight persons, including three known rowdy-sheeters and two VHP office-bearers for the killing.

A week later, on July 26, Praveen Nettaru (34), a rising BJP Yuva Morcha leader and former driver for BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, was hacked to death at his chicken stall in Bellare, near Kalanja. Police arrested 10 SDPI activists, charging them under UAPA, with the NIA joining the probe. Nettaru’s murder enraged Hindutva activists, who protested against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and gheraoed Kateel’s vehicle at Nettaru’s home.

On July 28, while Bommai visited Mangaluru amid outrage over Nettaru’s killing, masked assailants in a car killed Fazil, an MBA graduate, in Surathkal. He had completed a course in fire safety and was looking to go abroad for a job. Till then, he used to work as a day labourer at Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, where his elder brother Adil Mehroof worked as a driver.

Police arrested seven persons, with Suhas Shetty as the prime accused. Police said Nettaru and Fazil were random targets -- Nettaru to avenge Masood, and Fazil to avenge Nettaru. Nearly three years later, Fazil's brother, Adil Mehroof, was drawn into this relentless spiral of vengeance.