BENGALURU: Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje on Monday called Home Minister G Parameshwara a “Nalayak (incompetent) home minister” and urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to sack him from the ministry. She demanded an NIA probe into the murder of Hindu activist Suhas Shetty in Mangaluru.
Addressing the media at the party office in Bengaluru, the senior BJP leader launched a scathing attack on the CM, ministers and Assembly Speaker UT Khader.
“Parameshwara is a nalayak home minister. If the CM really wants to maintain law and order in the state, he should sack Parameshwara and take control of the home ministry. We don’t have any expectation that you [CM] will protect us, but you have the responsibility of protecting everyone,” she said.
Parameshwara is clueless about the developments and the home ministry is namesake, she commented.
She demanded that Speaker Khader and Rashid, a police constable attached to the Bajpe Police station in Mangaluru, should be subjected to narcoanalysis to find out the truth about Shetty’s murder and other cases in the area.
She said Khader has no moral right to continue as Speaker.
“Why did he speak to Fazil’s family a day after Shetty’s murder and told the media that they were not involved? Now, it is revealed that Fazil’s brother gave the money the family received as compensation for Fazil’s murder as supari to commit Shetty’s murder,” she said.
“Khader gave a certificate of trust to the family. He also claimed that he got a threat call. Who called him and why did he mention it that day? He was the main reason for diverting the attention, while the government too tried to do it,” she alleged.
She said, “The Bajpe police knew about the conspiracy. Why did they take away the weapon Shetty had kept with him for self-defence? The police should have given him protection, but they did not.”
Money for Shetty’s murder came from the Middle East and it should be probed as to who got that money, she said.
On Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan’s statement on Sunday that he will wear a suicide bomb vest and go to war with Pakistan, she said it was a gimmick to divert the attention of the public from real issues. “There is no need for Zameer to do that. Let him go and live in Pakistan for two years,” she said.
Police supported the killers, says BJP MLA
Moodbidri BJP MLA Umanath Kotian on Monday accused the local police of being hand in glove with the assailants in the Suhas Shetty murder case. Kotian told the media, “Shetty was murdered in full public view and nobody helped him.
The onlookers did not help, while the police who were in the vicinity did not rush to his aid. A burqa-clad woman was seen helping the attackers flee from the spot in a car, as per the videos of the incident.
The woman must be arrested. The Mangaluru city police commissioner and the local police supported the killers in carrying out the crime.” He claimed the police also ensured that Shetty was not carrying weapons he normally did for his own protection.
The police commissioner said Fazil’s brother had given the contract for Rs 5 lakh to execute the murder. But the crime did not happen for a mere Rs 5 lakh. There was funding of up to Rs 50 lakh from abroad. How much did the police receive from that deal,” he asked.
He alleged that the police commissioner and the police personnel are getting kickbacks from sand and laterite mining, gambling and other criminal activities. “Call records of Bajpe police and other local police personnel should be verified. In the name of investigation, Hindu youth are being targeted. Home Minister G Parameshwara and district in-charge minister Dinesh Gundu Rao could not even visit Shetty’s parents.
If Shetty was a rowdy-sheeter, his parents are not. His mother is a cancer patient. Also, Speaker UT Khader, who is not supposed to make political statements, defended Fazil’s family. We have completely lost faith in the local police, and the Shetty murder case must be handed over to the NIA,” he said .
Congress government complicit in murder: BJP
The BJP has claimed that the killing of Hindu activist Suhas Shetty was a “Congress-sponsored act” as a part of the Rs 25-lakh compensation given by the government to the family of Fazil, who was murdered in Mangaluru, was allegedly used by his brother to fund the contract killing.
Speaking to media persons here on Monday, BJP state general secretary Ravikumar said the police have revealed that Rs 5 lakh of the compensation amount was used to hire the contract killers of Shetty. “So, Suhas’ killing is nothing but sponsored by the Congress government,” he added.
Terming the Siddaramaiah government as “anti-Hindu”, he pointed out that ever since the Congress came to power in the state, Muslim communal elements have become emboldened and attacks on Hindus have been on the rise. Because of the lackadaisical approach of the government against such elements, the state has been turning into a sleeper cell for terrorists and extremists, he said.
He added that the government unnecessarily included Hindus in the rowdy sheeters’ list and demanded that the Home Ministry come clean on how many Hindus and Muslims have been included in such a list.
Accusing the Congress government of anti-development, Ravikumar said the government has lost control and the law and order situation has gone haywire.