Bajrang Dal activist murdered for raids on illegal slaughter houses

A Bajrang Dal activist, who was involved in busting illegal slaughter houses at Moodbidri, was brutally murdered on October 9. A total of eight people have been arrested so far in connection with the case.

The four people arrested yesterday have been identified as Mohammed Sharif, Mustafa Kavoor, Mohammed Mustafa and Kabeer, police told reporters

Two days ago, four others- Mohammud Haneef, Mohammud Ilyas, Ibrahim Liyaqat and Abdul Rasheed were arrested.

Mangaluru Police Commissioner S Murugan said the accused who were allegedly involved in the murder were upset over Bajrang Dal activist Prashant Poojary's activities against illegal trafficking of cattle.

To a query about the affiliation of the accused to any organisation, he said police was looking into it.

The accused were also linked to some other criminal cases, the police said.

29-year old Prashant Poojary, a flower vendor who had led raids on illegal slaughter houses was hacked to death by six bike-borne men armed with lethal weapons at Moodabirdi, 40 kms from here, on October 9.

The brutal attack had happened 12 days after 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched by a mob at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh over beef eating rumours, that led to a nation-wide outrage.

In a twist to the Moodabidri case, a witness to the murder, Vaman Poojary, had allegedly committed suicide a week after Prashant Poojary's murder, with Bajrang Dal raising questions about the circumstances surrounding it.

A group of protesters in Moodabidri had vowed revenge on Prashant Poojary for his raids on slaughter houses.

BJP local unit and right-wing outfits had questioned delay in the arrest of the killers. BJP had set October 19 as the deadline for their arrest, failing which they had threatened protests in the city.

With city Police Commissioner announced about the arrest, the BJP decided to withdraw their protest.

Addressing a press meet, BJP district president Pratap Simha Nayak said the party had temporarily decided to withdraw the protest following the arrest of the main accused.

Nayak alleged that Congress government in the state had failed to maintain law and order. The ministers of DK district had also failed to condemn the murder of Poojary.

He requested the state government not to discriminate between majority and minority communities.

Nalin Kumar Kateel MP, former MLC Monappa Bhandary and MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik were among those present.