Bengaluru: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of the Bommanahalli municipal council and Dalit leader - Srinivas Prasad alias Kithaganahalli Vasu was bludgeoned to death in Bengaluru in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Hebbagodi police station limits in the rural district.
Coming close on the heels of the alleged contract killing of an RSS worker Rudresh, who was chopped to death in broad daylight on October 16 on Kamaraj Road in the heart of the City, Prasad’s brutal murder is raising concerns this may be a political killing.
The RSS Media Coordinator for Karnataka, Rajesh Padmar swiftly labelled it as such while speaking to Deccan Chronicle, saying unequivocally that Prasad was killed for political reasons.
“In the last two years 10 RSS-VHP-BJP members in Karnataka have been killed. Prasad’s murder is the tenth in the series of politically-motivated killings. This is a very dangerous trend and a threat to the democratic set-up. The State government should institute a free and impartial probe in the murder. Prasad had no criminal background,” said Mr. Padmar.
According to unconfirmed sources Prasad had received a call on his mobile phone at around 5am after which, he left his house in the car. He was reportedly being followed by his killers, who pelted stones at the car and broke the windshield. He stopped the car and the assailants pulled him out and attacked him with a dagger and iron rods.
Prasad tried to run but they overpowered him and he succumbed to his injuries on the spot at around 5.45 am. His body was found by the highway patrol, who immediately alerted the local police and they in turn contacted Prasad’s family members.
According to official sources, Prasad’s car – a brand new unregistered Innova was found parked in a parking area near Narayana Hrudyalaya Hospital under the Hebbagodi police station limits.
“His body was found on the roadside with multiple stab and blunt injuries on his head, face and neck,” said Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru (rural) Amit Singh. A dagger was found at the crime scene.
Inspector General of Police, Central, Seemanth Singh said that they had formed special investigating teams to identify the killers. “We are looking at all the possible angles. Unless we catch the criminals we cannot ascribe any motive behind the murder,” he said. He added that so far no eye-witness has come forward in the case. Prasad’s body was taken to the Victoria Hospital for post mortem and later handed over to his relatives.
According to sources, there were at least two to three assailants because the body bore multiple injuries. “He was hit with an iron rod on his head. There were blunt injuries on his head and sharp injuries on his face and neck,” said an official source. “There is a difference in the way Rudresh was killed. His neck was chopped in one clean stroke. In Prasad’s case he died of multiple injuries,” said the source.
The City police had arrested five accused including the district president of the Popular Front of India (PFI) Asim Shariff in the Rudresh murder case, which was subsequently handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Prasad is survived by his wife Shailaja, who is a Zilla Panchayat member, a son and a daughter.
