Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, Apr 30: Minister for food and civil supplies U T Khader on Sunday April 30 said that BJP state president and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa should apologise for terming the murder of Karthik Raj in Asaigoli as a politically-motivated on and alleged that it was a 'conspiracy' by an organization to add communal colour to the case in order to disrupt peace and harmony in the district.
Addressing a press meet here, a day after the police revealed that Karthik's was murdered in a plot hatched by his own sister, U T Khader said, "When Karthik Raj was brutally murdered more than six months ago, several organisation raised their voice and also agitated with a series of murders. Even former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa visited the house of Karthik Raj, and cooked up some stories so that it looked like a communal, politically motivated murder. Being a former chief minister and responsible person, Yeddyurappa should apologise to the people for terming the murder as a politically motivated one. Now the police have succeeded in nabbing the real culprits and it has turned out to be a case of sibling rivalry.
"Some organisations hatched a conspiracy to divert the case and give it a communal angle, with a motive to disturb the peace and harmony in society," he added.
"I congratulate superintendent of police Bhushan G Borase, and ACP Valentine D'Souza and his team for solving the murder cases of Karthik Raj and Jaleel Karopadi. Through these, a strong message has been passed on that whoever commits crime, truth will prevail and the culprits will be behind the bars. Earlier, there were 3 such murder cases registered within my Ullal constituency and police have succeeded in solving all the three cases by nabbing the accused," he said.
Questioning the delay in solving the Karthik Raj murder case, he said, "Valentine D'Souza and his team have been able to crack the Karthik Raj murder case within 15 days, now the question is, why it was not possible for the local police station to do it. They took 6 months and failed to arrest the culprits. The police inspector who was investigating the case was a close relative of Karthik Raj and the locals were 100% sure about the involvement of the family members. It was the duty of the local police station to be more responsible in investigating the case. I have asked police commissioner to briefly investigate about the delay in cracking the case and also brought it to the notice of home minister."
When asked about 'Mangaluru Chalo' programme spearheaded by K Ashraf demanding justice to Ahmed Qureshi, who was allegedly subjected to police atrocity, U T Khader said, "We will not support any criminals. COD is investigating Ahmed Qureshi' case and we will come to know the truth, and accordingly action will be taken based on the COD report. Was it neccessary for him (K Ashraf) to undertake this 'Mangaluru Chalo' when the case being investigated by the COD and create more confusion among people? I dont understand. Are they doing this for their own political benefits or for Ahmed Qureshi? If they are pretty sure that Ahmed Qureshi is innocent, they could have filed a private case against the police."
Youth Congress president Mithun Rai, Mamatha Gatty and others were present.