Thomas (Special correspondent)
Belagavi police have arrested 10 persons on charges of murdering Arbaz Mulla,a 25 year old boy from Khanapur for falling in love with a Hindu woman.
Apart from Eerappa Kumbar,54,and Susheela Eerappa Kumbar,42, the girl’s parents,the arrested include Pundalik alias Majaraj Nagappa Mutagekar of Ottoli village,39,Qutbuddin Allabaksh Bepari,36,Maruti Prahlad Sugate alias Gondhali,30,Manjunath Tukaram Gondhali,25,
Ganapati Jnyaneshwar Sugate alias Gondhali,27, and Prashant Kallappa Patil,28, all from Khanapur and Praveen Shankar Pujeri,28,of Balekundri and Sridhar Mahadev Doni, 31,Honaga.
A press note released by Lakshman Nimbaragi, SP, says that Najeema Sheikh,the victim’s mother had given a complaint to the railway police that her son was killed for his relationship with Shwetha Kumbar,a girl from her neighbourhood in Khanapur.
She had suspected the involvement of
three persons,including the girl’s father,Maharaj and one person called Birje.
Initial investigations identified Maharaj’ as Pundalik alias Maharaj Mutagekar and Birje’ as Prashant Birje.
The arrests were made by a team specially constituted for the purpose.Investigation led the team members to uncover a conspiracy by the accused and the arrest of the accused,a member said.
Investigators have also revised the first information report to add some more legal provisions.
The accused are now charged with IPC sections 302 (murder),201,(causing disappearance of evidence),341,(wrongful restraint),120 B,(criminal conspiracy),384(extortion),388 (extortion by threat),149 (unlawful assembly) and 27 Arms Act (punishment for possession of arms).
Among the accused,Mutagekar is a taluk president of Sri Ram Sena Hindustan,the right wing outfit active in Belagavi district.
Other members,except the parents and Bepari,all others are followers or members of the organisation.
However, the police press note about the arrests of the accused persons, does not identify the accused as members of SRS-H.It also does not name Prashant Birje among the accused or say that he was arrested.
A senior police officer,
said that there was no evidence,as of now, to link the offence to the affiliation of the members.Birje has not been named does not seem to be involved in the commission of the offence,at least as of now, he said.
Ramakant Konduskar,district president of SRS-H, admits that the accused are members of his organisation.
I am proud that Mutagekar and others are SRS- H members. They have been agitating against inter faith affairs and marriages.
They have rescued hundreds of innocent girls falling prey to Muslim youth. But they will never kill anyone,’’ he told The Hindu. He said he was not clear if these accused or any other members of the Khanapur unit of SRS-H were involved in the Arbaz.
For many years, Mr.Konduskar was the trusted lieutenant of Pramod Mutalik,the founder of Sri Ram Sene.After the duo developed differences, Konduskar broke away and formed his own organisation,calling it SRS-H.
Konduskar has unsuccessfully contested two legislative assembly polls from Belagavi in the past.
Latif Khan Pathan,AIMIM state unit secretary, said that they were putting off a strike scheduled for Friday, where their leader Asaduddin Owaissi was supposed to participate.
This was after the SP assured us of prompt action against the accused, he said. He has demanded a ban on SRS-H and its affiliated organisation.
The special team was formed by the SP after the state government transferred the case to the district police.
It is headed by Shivanand Katagi,DySP. Circle inspectors U H Satenahalli,Suresh Singi and S B Malagond and sub inspectors U S Avati and Shivanand Karjol are the other members of the team.
Investigation has revealed that the parents of the girl, had paid money to kill the boy he added and further investigation is underway.
