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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News Network
February 27,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 27: Famous music composer from Kannada film industry, Arjun Janya suffered a minor heart attack. The music composer was immediately taken to Apollo hospital in Mysore where he is currently undergoing treatment.

According to the doctor, Arjun Janya developed chest pain and was admitted to the hospital. The doctor revealed that he is out of danger now and will be kept under observation for a couple of days.

The 39-year-old composer-singer has scored music for successful Kannada films like Birugaali, Kempegowda, Varadanayaka and others.

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News Network
July 15,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 15: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D K Shivakumar on Tuesday alleged Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa led state government of corruption and said it had not spared even beds and pillows meant for COVID-19 patients to make "corrupt" money.

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, Congress leader said BJP government will be exposed in the coming days.

"It is nauseating that @BSYBJP govt has not even spared the beds and pillows meant for CoVid patients to make corrupt money from. There are many such scams involving ministers. Evidences about them will be placed before people and the BJP Govt will be exposed in the coming days," he tweeted.

Cabinet minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday announced a complete lockdown in Karnataka's Dharwad area from 10 am on July 15 to 8 pm on July 24 in a bid to control the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

According to the State's health department, Karnataka has a total of 41,581 positive cases so far, including 24,572 active cases and 16,248 recoveries.

So far, 757 people have lost their lives to coronavirus in the State.

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News Network
February 27,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 27: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa has again kindled hope for several ministerial aspirants by suggesting he will expand his council of ministers in April. A dozen senior BJP legislators are aspiring for ministerial berths, but there are only six vacancies in Yediyurappa’s cabinet.

However, Yediyurappa suggested on Tuesday he will fill only three spots, one of which would go to Hukkeri legislator Umesh Katti. With this, lobbying has intensified for the two remaining berths as the expansion exercise is expected soon after the budget session that ends on March 29.

The aspirants include Murugesh Nirani, S Angara, Appachhu Ranjan, SA Ramdas, Aravind Limbavali, Narasimha Nayak and GH Thippareddy besides others.

Yediyurappa, it is being said, is keen on inducting Katti and Limbavali since they are close to him. He will leave the decision on choosing legislators for the remaining two berths to the party’s central leadership.

On more than one occasion in the past, Yediyurappa has publicly stated that his wish is to induct Katti, a former minister, into the cabinet. In fact, the CM had wanted to induct Katti in the previous expansion that took place last month, but dropped the idea at the last minute due to pressure from party bosses.

The CM is also under pressure to induct Athani legislator Mahesh Kumatalli, who was among 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs who resigned to help the saffron party form the government. Several BJP MLAs and Lingayat seers have been piling pressure on Yediyurappa to make Kumatalli a minister as promised.

Kumatalli was denied a cabinet berth only to accommodate Katti. Both are Lingayats and from Belagavi district. As the Lingayat community already has a lion’s share in cabinet berths, the CM cannot afford to induct both.

Nirani, who has been leaving no stone unturned to secure a spot, reiterated his wish to become minister, but insisted he will not lobby for the post.

Yediyurappa has been upset with Nirani for lobbying for a berth through Panchamasali Mutt seer Vachananand Swami. The former minister was also part of the team of alleged disgruntled MLAs which met Jagadish Shettar at his residence to put pressure on the CM for cabinet berths.

However, while expressing confidence of being made minister when Yediyurappa’s expands his cabinet next, Nirani said, “Yediyurappa is not upset with me. My relationship with him is that of father and son. He knows me and what I am.”

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