HAVERI : Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has been booked by Haveri police along with two others for sharing a “fake” report related to a farmer’s suicide and linking it to Waqf row on social media.
Rudrappa Balikayi, 24, died by suicide in 2022 at Haranagiri village in Haveri district.
The MP shared the “fake” report published by two Kannada digital media platforms on his social media account on Thursday, stating that it was the first death in Haveri due to Waqf row. Local police issued a clarification the same day that the news is false and the farmer ended his life for other reasons.
Along with Surya, the police have booked cases against the editors of the two digital platforms for publishing the report.
A senior police officer from Haveri said Rudrappa Balikayi’s father Chennappa filed a complaint stating that his son died by suicide on January 6, 2022, and he had taken loans amounting to Rs 7 lakh. Ruddappa’s family was given compensation by the state government then.
The police have launched an investigation into publication of the report related to the 2022 suicide on November 7, 2024, linking it to the Waqf row. Two weeks ago, a group of people attacked a local Muslim leader in Haveri district following rumours that their lands will be taken over by the Waqf Board. This incident has now become an election issue.
Reacting to police action on Friday, Surya, who is in Haveri campaigning for BJP candidate Bharat Bommai, said farmers from Haveri met the visiting JPC chairman and submitted a petition stating that the farmer ended life after learning that his four acres of land had been listed as Waqf property.
“That report was published by media representatives. I posted this on social media so that the government would take action. When I questioned why farmers are being targeted, they filed an FIR against me and the media representatives. The farmer’s father stated that his son committed suicide because his land had been listed as Wakf property,” Surya said.
“There is a problem with the Waqf Act. We will amend it. We will curtail the Waqf Board’s authority. We will protect the interests of farmers of the state and the country,” he said.