Idrees Pasha was fasting when he was lynched. His body parts bore electric shock marks showing the extreme torture he faced, his brother said demanding justice
Ghazala Ahmad | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — Puneeth Kerehelli, prime accused in last week’s lynching of Karnataka cattle trader Idrees Pasha, and four of his associates were arrested from Banaswara in Rajasthan by the Ramanagra Police on Wednesday.
The development from Rajasthan came after Pasha’s family staged a protest on Saturday demanding the arrest of the perpetrators of the crime.
Younus Pasha, the victim’s brother, told Clarion India over the phone that the family wants strictest possible sentence for the accused.
Demanding life sentence for Kerehalli and others, his brother said, “We have lost our brother. Only arresting them is not enough, they should at least get life imprisonment.”
He said, “His (Idrees Pasha’s) children became orphans because of these extremists. Police should not go easy on them. A strict action is required so that it becomes an example for others.”
Describing the horror of seeing his brother’s dead body, Younus said his body bore electric shock marks. Idrees was fasting and they tortured him brutally, he added.
“We will pursue everything under the light of law and we believe the law will not fail us. We only want justice for our brother and the orphan kids and his widow”, he commented.
Idrees Pasha, 39, was a licensed cattle trader. He is the latest victim of the high-handedness of the self-proclaimed cow vigilantes. His body was found under mysterious circumstances in Santhanur. Pasha’s family claims that he was beaten up and thrashed mercilessly by Hindutva zealots in the late hours of Friday (31 March), merely a hundred metres away from the Sathanur police station.
Media reports said Pasha and two persons accompanying him in the vehicle were intercepted by cow vigilantes, who accused them of indulging in cow slaughter.
Santhanur Police earlier declared Kerehelli an absconder. Karthik Reddy, Ramanagara Superintendent of Police, said on Tuesday that Karehalli was absconding and four teams have been formed to arrest him and his accomplices.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered by Santhanur Police on the complaint of cattle trader Pasha’s family under several sections of the Indian Penal Code including 302 (murder), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to breach peace) against Kerehalli and some other individuals.
Clarion India also spoke to Younus before the arrests from Rajasthan. Explaining the entire ordeal over the phone, Younus said: “My brother as usual went out to the market to purchase cattle. He was not doing anything illegal. He had a license.”
He said that “Idrees and his two business partners, Zaheer and Irfan, though severely beaten, managed to flee but Karehalli and his associates caught Idrees after chasing him for about 100 meters; he was tortured and killed by Kerehalli and his accomplices. They deserve strict punishment.”
Who is Puneeth Karehelli?
Puneeth Kerehalli is the president of far-right Hindutva outfit Rashtra Rakshana Pade (RRP) roughly translated as “national security organisation” and a self-proclaimed ‘digital creator’ on Facebook. He uses his social media presence to stream live incidents of ‘cow rescuing’.
In his very active social media presence he can be seen sharing stage and frames with various rightwing leaders including BJP’s Tejaswi Surya, Kapil Mishra, K. Annamalai, and C.T. Ravi.
Apart from this, his social media presence also suggests that Karehelli is a staunch supporter of the right-wing ecosystem and notorious for his anti-Muslim rhetoric and vigilante violence.
There are several other videos of Karehelli on social media in which he can be seen harassing and intimidating people in the name of cow vigilantism.
Kerehelli’s latest ‘cow rescuing operation’ was of Idrees Pasha’s which resulted in the latter’s death.
However, Kerehelli has denied his involvement in the murder of Idrees Pasha. In a video, shared on Facebook, he said, “I’ll willingly come before the police and cooperate with the investigation because I’m not afraid of anything.”
He also accused Congress and JD(S) leaders of framing him in the case.
Recently, a Supreme Court bench of Justice K.M. Joseph and B.V. Nagarathna scathingly observed the state’s inaction in dealing with cases of hate crimes and hate speeches.
The bench said that people are being able to make hate speeches and get away with it easily because the state is not ‘acting on time’ and this will stop as soon as politics and religion will be segregated from each other.
