Mangaluru: The Mangaluru police have booked 20 people for hate crime and murder after a Malayali Muslim man was beaten to death on the sidelines of a cricket match on Sunday, April 27.

Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal identified the victim as Ashraf from Pulppally in Wayanad. The police are awaiting formal identification by Ashraf’s family before making the identity official. "They will reach Mangaluru tonight or by morning," said an officer at the Mangaluru Rural Police Station.

The officer said Ashraf had been working as a manual labourer in the city for the past month.

His body was found near Bhatra Kallurti Temple, close to a cricket ground in Kudupu, around 10 km from the city centre. "We are still investigating how he reached the cricket ground, where he was assaulted," Agrawal said.

According to the police, the mob attacked the man around 3 pm, and his body was found around 5.30 pm on Sunday.

The FIR names 19 accused, though police say more than 25 people were part of the mob that murdered the man. On Tuesday, police arrested 15 of them, most of them residents of Kudupu.

According to the police, the mob was led by Sachin T (26), an autorickshaw driver from Kudupu. The other accused are: Devadas (50), Dheekshith Kumar (32), and Vivian Alvares (41), Manjunath (32), Nitesh Kumar (33) alias Santosh, Sridatta (32), Pradeep Kumar (35), Manish Shetty (21), Dhanush (31), Dheekshith (27) and Kishore Kumar (37) - all from Kudupu; and Saideep (29) from Pedamale; Sandeep (23) from Vamanjoor; and Rahul (23) from Bejai in Mangaluru.

For the first time in the city, the accused have been booked under Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with hate crimes and mob lynching. The section is invoked when five or more persons commit murder based on race, caste, community, sex, place of birth, language, or personal belief. If convicted, the accused may face the death penalty, life imprisonment, or a jail term of up to seven years.

The police said they identified the accused after two days of extensive investigation involving witness statements, CCTV footage from nearby areas, and analysis of mobile tower dump data.

The police had circulated an image of the victim to aid in identification. While the body showed no visible injuries, the autopsy conducted at Wenlock District Hospital revealed the cause of death as internal bleeding and shock resulting from multiple strong blows to the back, and lack of timely medical treatment.

Ashraf was assaulted with bare hands, sticks, and by kicking, said Commissioner Agrawal. "Some bystanders attempted to intervene, but the group continued to assault him, which ultimately led to his death," the police said in a statement.

CPM Dakshina Kannada district secretary and known crusader against hate crimes, Muneer Katippalla, said the cricket ground at Kudupu is locally known as 'Hindu Maidan' or 'Samrat Maidan'. "No Muslim goes there to play or watch cricket," he claimed, alleging that the accused are linked to the BJP and Bajrang Dal. "Former BJP councillor Raveendra Nayak, husband of the current councillor Sangeetha Nayak, was also involved in the mob attack," he alleged.

However, Police Commissioner Agrawal said that Nayak has not been named as an accused and that the investigation is ongoing. Regarding the political affiliations of the arrested men, he said, "We are still verifying that, but all of them have different sources of income."

The police also dismissed media reports claiming the victim was lynched for allegedly shouting 'Pakistan Zindabad' on the cricket ground.