The Mangaluru police on Monday, December 26, arrested three people in connection with the murder of 45-year-old shopkeeper Abdul Jaleel in Katipalla, near Surathkal, in Dakshina Kannada district on December 24. The suspects have been identified as Shailesh Poojary (21) of Katipalla, Savin Kanchan (24) of Mulki, and Pavan Pachhu (23) of Katipalla. According to the police, Shailesh and Savin stabbed Jaleel while Pavan provided the motorcycle that the two used to escape the scene.
Jaleel was murdered due to his alleged involvement with a Hindu woman. Though the Congress party claims that the murder was an act of moral policing, Mangaluru Police Commissioner Shashi Kumar has stated that the motive behind Jaleel's murder is still under investigation.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Shailesh and Savin have previously been involved in a number of criminal cases, including an attempted murder case registered at a city police station in 2021. According to Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) State president Muneer Katipalla, the two were involved in communal incidents too. “The accused Shailesh Poojary and Savin Kanchan were both involved in the Pinky Nawaz murder case in Mangaluru,” says Muneer. Pinky Nawaz was the prime accused in the January 2018 murder of Bajrang Dal activist Deepak Rao.
Muneer also alleged that a senior member in the family of one of the accused has a history of involvement in the Surathkal riots, which were a series of violent incidents that occurred in the region in 1998. The riots began on December 29, when a group of Hindus attacked a Muslim man for dating a Hindu woman. The violence quickly escalated, leading to the shutdown of the town for nearly a week and resulting in the deaths of eight people. The Surathkal riots were a significant event in the history of the Dakshina Kannada district, as they marked a period of increased communal tension and violence that continues to affect the area even today.
In the past few months, Dakshina Kannada district has witnessed an escalation in violence. The murder of Jaleel follows the killing of 22-year-old Fazil, a resident of Mangalapete in Surathkal, who was hacked to death with sharp weapons by unknown assailants near a cloth shop in Surathkal on July 28. Fazil’s murder occurred just days after the killing of Praveen Nettaru, a BJP Yuva Morcha member in Bellare on July 26. Just a few days before this, on July 19, Masood, an 18-year old who lived near Bellare village, was also hacked to death by a group while rearing a calf.
Jaleel's murder has been brought up for discussion in the ongoing winter session of the Karnataka assembly, with opposition leaders attempting to hold the ruling BJP accountable for the increasing number of communal murders in the region. Congress MLA UT Khader has linked the murder to moral policing, while former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai of discriminating against Muslims in the distribution of compensation for victims of communal incidents. Siddaramaiah has also alleged that moral policing is frequently carried out by the right-wing group Bajrang Dal.
As a precautionary measure, the administration has implemented Section 144 CrPC in the areas of Panambur, Surathkal, Mulki, and Bajpe, all designated as sensitive due to the recent murders.
The three suspects were brought before a jurisdictional magistrate on Monday and will be held in police custody for 14 days. The police have also questioned a total of 12 individuals, including some women and Jaleel's family members, in relation to the case.
Jaleel's family members and other residents of Katipalla held a demonstration on Sunday, halting the ambulance carrying Jaleel's body and demanding the immediate arrest of those involved in the murder. After Police Commissioner N Shashi Kumar provided assurances, the ambulance was allowed to continue to a masjid in Panjimogaru where Jaleel's funeral rites were performed.