The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is taking over the Bengaluru violence case and is ready to interrogate SDPI leader Muzamil Pasha and his associates for allegedly “instigating the mobs” that set off the violence in the state.
According to a statement by NIA, Pasha had reportedly called a meeting and allegedly directed the members from the (PFI) Popular Front of India and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) to instigate the mob and incite violence.
“The mob went on a rampage in D.J. Halli, K. G. Halli, and Pulakeshi Nagar area in Bengaluru. The mob attacked the two police stations namely D. J. Halli and K. G. Halli and vandalized the property of police stations including government and private vehicles parked in these police stations,” the announcement said.
An official further included that the mob also attacked at the house of the MLA of Pulakeshi Nagar constituency Akhanda Srinivas Murthy before attacking the police stations, thus the probe will start with interrogating Pasha.
It can be recalled that over 1,000 individuals accumulated at the house of Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy (Pulakeshi Nagar constituency) at Kavalbyrasandra.
According to the official statement, An IG-rank official who is the head of the NIA group is camping at Bengaluru in connection to the investigation of the Bengaluru violence case.
The protest was about a post on the social media portal Facebook. The post made on August 11, 2020, was about Prophet Muhammad. It was shared online around 4 pm by the nephew of the MLA allegedly insulting the religious sentiments of the Muslims.
A city civil and sessions court has denied the bail to P Naveen, the nephew of Pulikeshinagar MLA R AkhandaSrinivasamurthy saying that the charges against him are not severe, but his actions led to the riots in east Bengaluru’s KG Halli and DJ Halli areas on August 11.
Naveen age 35, was arrested on August 12 due to an alleged derogatory post on Facebook, he has been booked under IPC sections section 67 (punishment for the publishing of material containing sexually explicit act) of the IT Act, 154A (promoting enmity between two different groups on the ground of religion, race, language, etc.) and also 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class) They prescribe less than 5 years of imprisonment if found guilty.
A special public prosecutor P Prasanna Kumar told that: “There have been 67 FIRs registered for the violence. Naveen also has six criminal cases against him before this case. A man from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, announced that “Rs 50 Lakh bounty for those who bring the head of Naveen”. He many tamper with the prosecution evidence and commit similar offences if released on bail.”
