Kathua rape: Youngsters with saffron links were masterminds behind undeclared hartal in Kerala

coastaldigest.com web desk
April 22, 2018

Kasaragod, Apr 22: The police in Kerala have arrested five youngsters in connection with the undeclared hartal of April 16 in the state over the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in a temple at Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.

The arrested have been identified as Amarnath (20), from Urukunnu in Kollam, Sudheesh (22), Akhil (23), Gokul Shekhar (21), and Cyril from Thiruvananthapuram. Interestingly all of them allegedly have links with saffron outifits. Amarnath was a prominent member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh till last year.

The police have charged the accused of inciting enmity between groups on the grounds of religion and remanded them in judicial custody. Senior police officers Debesh Kumar Behera and Jaleel Thottathil supervised the probe.

According to police, Amarnath was responsible for the online mobilisation for the flash hartal that put communities on edge and disrupted life in different parts of Kerala including Kasaragod district.

A Plus Two open university student, Amarnath deserted the RSS along with 30 others in his locality, including his father, last year.

Subsequently, he emerged as an influential leader among his friends and started criticising both RSS and Muslim groups. Others who had abandoned the RSS similarly formed the bulk of his followers on Facebook and WhatsApp.

Perinthalmanna DySP M P Mohanachandran, who probed the case, said that Kathua incident provided these youngsters an opportunity to became popular.

Encouraged by the swelling number of followers on the social media, he created two exclusive WhatsApp groups ‘Voice for Youth’ and ‘Justice for Sisters’. More people started joining the group and started condemning Sangh Parivar for its purported role in defending the accused in the brutal rape and murder.

SDPI denies role

According to police, Amarnath instigated the people to take to the streets rather than confining their agitation to social media. His message resonated strongly among netizens, including Muslim groups such as SDPI and PFI.

“The SDPI subsequently weaponised Amarnath’s posts about the Kathua incident and used its exclusive online messaging groups to invigorate its cadres and prompt them to unleash direct action in the physical realm”, a police officer was quoted as saying by local media.

However, SDPI leaders has denied the allegation of the police. Meanwhile, another Muslim party, Welfare Party of India, said that it had opposed the flash hartal.

Comments

Kumar
 - 
Sunday, 22 Apr 2018

Police did good job by uncovering the links. Should ban many saffron political wings.. under modi rule it wont happen..

Farooq
 - 
Sunday, 22 Apr 2018

I didnt understand how muslims became this much fools. Why they staged protest by a whatsapp msg that also faked by some cheddis.. People should be some more careful

Vivek
 - 
Sunday, 22 Apr 2018

Saffrons wanted to ban SDPI. That's why they planned and moved like this with a fake hartal. But atlast police revealed everything.. Hats off for the unbiased probe

True.. Modi ji did many good things, but media always highlighting negative things. And in Kathua rape issue, media making unwanted sensationalism to tarnish BJP image

Babu Gowda
 - 
Sunday, 22 Apr 2018

Indian media highlighting only negativity and spreading their own assumptions.. Everything paid prestitutes. 

Danish
 - 
Sunday, 22 Apr 2018

As usual RSS is the mastermind of all violences. not only in Kerala, everywhere in India same condition

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 17,2020

Mangaluru, July 17: For the first time, Dakshina Kannada saw over 3,00 new coronavirus cases in a single day. The coastal district today recorded 311 positive cases. 

The number of active cases in the district is 1,725 while its overall tally stands at 3,074.

Out of the 26,242 samples tested so far, 23,168 were tested negative. 

As many as 1,278 people were discharged after fully recovering so far including 115 people who were discharged today.

The district also recorded deaths of 8 covid-19 patients in past 24 hours including a woman. The deceased are aged between 53 years and 78 years. 

With this the total number of deaths in the district mounted to 71 including 12 patients from other districts who were admitted in hospitals here. 

Meanwhile, Karnataka reported 3,693 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, which raised the virus case count to 55,115. The number of recoveries reached 20,757, including 1,028 on Friday.

At 115 fatalities, the state witnessed its biggest single-day jump. Bengaluru accounted for 75 of these 115 deaths. The number of active cases in the state are 33,205, including 508 patients who are in ICU. The state's death toll reached 1,147 while that of Bengaluru stands at 582.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 5,2020

Mangaluru, May 5: Even as the coastal city entered third phase of lockdown to contain the spread of covid-19, a wild bison was spotted in Mangaluru today. 

According to sources, local residents at Hathill area and Mannagudda area spotted bison. It is not sure whether it was the same bison or two different bison.

Some reports claimed that it was spotted in Kudroli area too triggering panic among people. 

With the help of local residents and police, the forest officials managed to catch the bison around noon. 

It is assumed that the wild animal must have come to the city as there was less movement of people and vehicle due to lockdown for past few weeks.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 23,2020

Mangaluru, May 23: Criticising the Karnataka government's fresh protocol for management of Covid-19 as expensive, a prominent physician in the city has demanded its withdrawal.

According to Dr B Srinivas Kakkilaya, the protocol released by the Health and Family Welfare Department on May 15 enlists unnecessary and unconfirmed tests and treatments. 

The protocol has classified Covid-19 cases into three categories and has provided for hospitalisation of all three categories of patients, from asymptomatic to the most severely ill.

In a letter to the government, Dr Kakkilaya said: "The protocol suggests several investigations to be done right on the day of admission, including blood counts, liver and renal function tests, chest X Ray, ECG, CT scan of the chest, and other special investigations, all of which, if done, will cost Rs 25,000 per patient."

"In the coming days when lakhs of patients are likely to be infected with SARS CoV2, is it necessary and feasible to hospitalise and test all these patients at Rs 25,000 per person," he questioned.

The treatment options suggested in the protocol are also surprising, he pointed out. "The protocol recommends choloroquine, azithromycin, oseltamivir, zinc and vitamin C for all patients, from asymptomatic to the severely ill, and also anti coagulant injections for many patients. All these would cost at least Rs 5,000 per patient. For severe cases of Covid-19, many unproven and experimental treatments have been suggested, which are very expensive and highly questionable," Dr Kakkilaya notes.

Therefore, this protocol, he asserted was not evidence based and likely to do more harm than good. He said these unnecessarily expensive tests and allowing private companies to conduct trials on Covid-19 patients is likely to be misused by vested interests and must be immediately withdrawn, and instead, a protocol that is evidence-based, simple and avoiding unnecessary expenses, must be developed.

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