The investigation into the death of 19-year-old Paresh Mesta, which sparked violence across Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, has been recommended to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
According to the state government, the case was transferred on Mesta’s parents’ requested.
“We have taken the decision to hand over the matter to the CBI. I have directed the Director General of Police and Chief Secretary to complete the formalities,” Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy told TNM.
Mesta’s body was found floating in Honnavar’s Shettykere on December 8, two days after communal tensions erupted in the district.
Allegations of how Mesta died have flown thick and fast, with pro-Hindutva groups claiming his death was unnatural and that he was tortured before being killed. They took to the streets of Honnavar and Sirsi, among others, to protest, and incidents of arson were reported. However, Inspector General of Police Western Range Hemanth Nimbalkar categorically denied these allegations. Nimbalkar also released a letter from Dr Shankar M Bakkannavar, Associate Professor at the Department of Forensic Medicine at the Kasturba Medical College, Manipal.
The forensic science expert had answered 19 questions in which he has asserted that there was no external or internal injury, no torture and no strangulation or haemorrhage marks on the body. The report however mentions two injuries, and that one could have been caused by blunt force.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to react to the incident, claiming that Mesta was a BJP member, and attacked the ruling Congress for its alleged misgovernance.
BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje demanded a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into Mesta’s death.
On Wednesday, a BJP delegation led by Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, KS Eshwarappa, submitted a memorandum to Governor Vajubhai Vala calling for an NIA probe into the killing of BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers in Karnataka’s coastal belt, including the circumstances surrounding Mesta’s death.