UDUPI: A 29-year-old BJP worker was allegedly beaten to death by a group of gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes) in an Udupi village on Wednesday. Praveen Poojari, who worked as a cattle transporter, was assaulted with iron clubs during an altercation with members of a newly formed vigilante group, Hindu Janajagruti Samithi, near Santhekatte in Hebri, Karkala. Five Samithi members have been arrested and 14 detained.
Poojari, who belongs to Kenjoor village near Brahmavara, had been reportedly warned several times by the group against transporting cattle heads. The incident comes barely 10 days after PM Narendra Modi termed cow vigilantes anti-socials.
On Wednesday evening, Poojari was loading three cows into his tempo in Santhekatte, 30km from Udupi city. A group of 25 Hindu Janajagruti Samithi activists, aged between 20 and 25, bound Poojari using a rope and assaulted him. Later they dumped him near a school. Police shifted him to a hospital where Poojari died on Wednesday. An associate of Poojari, Akshay Devadiga, was also injured but his condition is said to be stable.
IN connection with the murder of BJP leader of Kenjoor village,Praveen Poojari, Brahmavara police arrested five cow vigilantes on Wednesday night.
The Brahmavara police have held five people in connection with Praveen Poojari’s murder. They are Srikanth, Umesh, Pradeep, Santhosh and Ramesh, who all hail from Brahmavara and are local leaders of the Hindu Janajagruthi Samithi (HJS).
Though 14 more people were detained by the police, their names are not being revealed. Police said they will conduct a preliminary inquiry, before starting the procedure of arresting them.
Cattle purchased in Muddur
Udupi SP K T Balakrishna said that the cattle were purchased in Muddur, and an investigation will reveal as to where they were being transported. It is not known yet whether they were being transported to any slaughterhouse or somewhere else.
Assault near Kajke
Praveen Poojari was assaulted near Kajke, after which he was dumped near a school in Kenjoor by those who assaulted him.
Locals spotted him unconscious near the school, and informed police. They tried to shift him to a hospital in Brahmavara, but he breathed his last on the way. Ramesh who was travelling with Praveen managed to flee from the assailants, and remained unhurt.