Kerala police rule out involvement of Malayalis in Karnataka political murders

Highlights

• The ongoing probe into the recent communally-inspired triple murder in Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka has so far not revealed any Kerala connection, state police sources said, even as the department is maintaining a close watch in Kannur and Kasaragod districts, which shares borders with Karnataka, to check any spillover of violence from across the border.

• Earlier, there were unverified reports that the killers of Yuva Morcha leader Praveen Nettaru on July 26 had arrived in a vehicle that bore a Kerala registration number plate. However, this claim has been found baseless during the subsequent probe carried out by Karnataka police.

• Kasaragod district police chief Vaibhav Saxena said the claim that a vehicle bearing the Kerala registration number was used to commit the murder is not true and Karnataka police have so far not shared any inputs that suggested any sort of involvement of people from Kerala side of the border in any of the murders.

• “Being border districts whose demography is almost the same, we are regularly in touch with Mangaluru SP. If there was any information regarding involvement of Keralites in any of these murders, they would have intimated us. All suspects arrested are from their side. The claim that a vehicle bearing Kerala registration number was used for committing the offence is baseless,” he said.

• The communally-sensitive Dakshina Kannada district saw back-to-back murders starting with that of Masood, an 18-year-old, who was killed at Bellare on July 21, followed by that of Praveen Nettaru (July 26) and Fazil of Surathkal, who was hacked to death on July 28.

• The police sources said the organisations allegedly involved in the murders have strong presence in Kerala as well and in that scenario, the police are maintaining a high alert in Kannur and Kasaragod. Kasaragod is specially being watched as it shares borders with three Karnataka taluks where the murders had occurred.

  “The border points are being scrutinised to nix entry of unwanted elements to the district. Intelligence sharing is also happening on a timely basis between the forces of both the states.

• Kannur, which has a history of violence between Muslim and Hindu fundamentalist groups, is equally being watched. The police top brass had issued an alert across northern parts of the state following the murders. That alert is yet to be withdrawn in Kasaragod,” said a senior officer of Kerala Police.The Karnataka government has handed over the probe into the murder of BJP youth wing leader Praveen Nettaru to the National Investigation Agency.