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The Bengaluru police have issued a notice to cow vigilante and right-wing activist Puneeth Kerehalli, 35, for inclusion of his name in the list of persons designated as rowdies in Karnataka on account of his involvement in six crimes in the state since 2021, including alleged murder, assault and criminal intimidation.
He was most recently accused in the case of the death of a cattle transporter Idrees Pasha, 39, who was stopped and attacked in the Ramanagara region, bordering Bengaluru, by the vigilante and his associates on the intervening night of March 31 and April 1.
The police in the west division of Bengaluru issued notice to Kerehalli on June 26 based on a police report on the involvement of the cow vigilante in multiple cases. The police have sought a response from Kerehalli on why his name should not be added to the rowdies’ list. Among the cases cited by the Bengaluru police to initiate the notice are two police cases filed at Sathnur in Ramanagara where Kerehalli and his associates attacked Pasha, 39, and two others on March 31.
Idrees Pasha died following the attack where the vigilantes used electric tasers or stun guns to take upon themselves the duty of implementing of Karnataka Prevention of Cattle Slaughter Act 2020 that was passed by the previous BJP state government in 2021.
A preliminary probe revealed that Pasha died of cardiac arrest. However, the police suspect that the accused may have used a stun gun to neutralise Pasha which might have led to a cardiac arrest. Kerehalli was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court in May based on an autopsy report that suggested a heart attack death. In a second case involving cow vigilantism Kerehalli is accused of stopping a transporter Aleemulla Baig with accusations of illegal cattle transport in the Electronic City police limits of Bengaluru on March 20. A case was filed by the victim after the death of Pasha in the Ramanagara case on March 31.
In his complaint to the Electronics City police, Baig alleged that as he was travelling on Hosur Road with cattle in a truck, Kerehalli and his associates stopped his vehicle. The gang allegedly beat up Baig and the driver and used a stun gun to administer electric shocks. The torture continued for almost an hour, during which Kerehalli and his associates hurled abuses at Baig and shouted that “the police won’t but we will give you treatment.”
A video of the attack on the transporters in the Electronic City police limits was posted on Kerehalli’s social media handles. Baig did not report the assault until the death of Pasha as Kerehalli had threatened him with dire consequences.
A third case cited by the Bengaluru police to declare Kerehalli a rowdy is an August 2021 case registered by the Begur police over efforts to install a religious statue at the Begur Lake despite an HC court order for the conservation of the lake.
As per a complaint filed by Leo Saldanha, a petitioner in one of the cases at the HC over the construction of an artificial island, an FIR was registered at the Beguru police station in the city. It had named Puneeth Kerehalli and Santosh Karatal, and others for unveiling a statue on August 11 which was covered with tarpaulin till then. Kerehalli is also accused of issuing provocative statements against minority communities on social media on the issue.
Kerehalli has also been cited by the Bengaluru police as an accused in an SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 case and criminal intimidation filed by one Shivakumar Naik at Chamarajpet in December 2022 and a January 2022 case filed by a police officer at the Hampi Tourism police station against Kerehalli and nine others for violation of Covid norms.
There are nearly 7,000 designated rowdies in Bengaluru. A person designated as a rowdy under the Karnataka Police Manual will be under the constant supervision of the police department and will need to make regular appearances in police stations to declare that they have not been involved in crimes. Three registers are maintained on rowdies who are classified into three categories on the basis of notoriety. The police also conduct regular checks at their homes and places of residence.
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