As coastal Karnataka remains tense over communal murders, will BJP corner Siddaramiah govt with NIA probe?

Three murders in a month in Mangaluru have once again flared up communal tension and the top cops have been shunted out, and a Communal Violence Counter Force (CVCF) has been set up in a hurry to tackle hate speech and communal violence in the coastal district Dakshina Kannada.

 

The district in-charge minister Dinesh Gundu Rao was asked to rush to the troubled district, even as minority leaders of the ruling Congress district unit resigned enmasse under pressure from the community, demanding the arrest and stringent action against those who had murdered Abdul Rahiman (34), a pickup van driver and secretary of a local mosque in Kolathamajalu in Bantwal. 

 

The "swift" action of the Siddaramaiah government in transferring the top cops and forming the anti-communal force is now being ridiculed as minority appeasement by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The ruling party leaders have blamed the saffron party for the volatile situation in the coastal district now labelled as the "Hindutva lab" of the Sangh Parivar. 

 

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asked the senior police officers to "go all out" against the "communal forces" instead of settling to do a post-mortem after the communal incidents. "Forces inimical to the Constitution are raising their head in Karnataka and I want you to take strict action against them irrespective of the patronage they enjoy. If you fail to act tough, I will act tough against you," warned the chief minister, during an online review meeting of districts, attended by the deputy commissioners, police commissioners and CEOs of the panchayats.

 

Abdul Rahiman was brutally murdered in Mangaluru's Bantwal taluk on May 27, 2025, when Rahiman and his friend, Kalandar Shafi, were unloading sand from a truck. Two motorcycle-borne assailants attacked them with swords, resulting in Rahiman's death and Shafi sustaining serious injury.

 

The Dakshina Kannada police have arrested three suspects - Deepak (21), Prithviraj (21) and Chiranthan (19) in connection with the murder. The murder has sparked outrage and concerns about growing communal polarisation in the coastal district. It is also being dubbed as a retaliation for Bajrang Dal activist Suhas Shetty's murder on May 1.

 

Shetty (32), who was hacked to death by around five assailants in Kinnipadav near Bajpe, was the main accused in the murder of Mohammad Fazil, who was murdered in Surathkal on July 28, 2022. Fazil’s murder was rumoured to be in retaliation for the killing of a Hindu activist Praveen Nettaru.

 

On April 27, Ashraf (35), a native of Wayanad in Kerala was killed by a mob in Mangaluru during a cricket match by his assaulters for allegedly raising a pro-Pakistan slogan. 

 

Home minister G. Parameshwara, while admitting the coastal district was tense said, "As per information, the plan was to kill more (people)." The home minister has also claimed that the Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal and SP Yathish N. were transferred out of the district owing to a "long-standing public demand".

 

DIG (Intelligence) Sudheer Kumar Reddy and Udupi SP Arun K.,  took charge as the Mangaluru City Commissioner and SP, respectively. "Any attempt to disturb peace in the district known for its  educational and economic progress, will not be tolerated."

 

Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar alleged the BJP and pro-Hindutva groups were trying to communally polarise the district for electoral gains. "The BJP should understand that Karnataka and Dakshina Kannada district stand to lose due to communal tension. Youth are migrating in search of jobs and we are trying to create jobs here. Everything will be brought under control," he added. 

 

The newly established anti-communal force to be deployed in Mangaluru, Udupi and Shivamogga districts, is meant to monitor hate speech and communal activity, and is being ridiculed as a "hasty" and "ill-conceived" initiative which shows the district police in poor light and encourages more districts to demand for a similar force.

 

BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra has expressed concern over the safety of Hindu activists in the coastal districts and accused the ruling Congress of failing to maintain law and order. The BJP leaders have alleged that the government was quick in visiting the victims' families belonging to the minority families to announce death compensation but chose to look away when the victim belonged to the Hindu community. The opposition was making references to the murder of  Shetty recently, after the home minister refused to visit Shetty's family stating he was a history sheeter.

 

Rao, who visited the district alleged that anti-national forces were trying to portray Muslims as "outsiders" and this had led to growing animosities and revenge killings in the coastal belt. He also added that the Muslim community was affluent in the coastal belt running successful businesses and that was also a cause for the frequent friction. 

 

"BJP is playing politics over the dead. They indulge in hate speech and instigate communal enmity. But our government has been impartial and arrested the accused in all three murder cases," defended Rao.

 

"The brutal murder of Suhas Shetty, carried out openly in the streets and in full public view, is a chilling reflection of the alarming breakdown of law and order under the Siddaramaiah government. It also shows how emboldened radical elements have become, operating with impunity and targeting Hindu Karyakarthas without the slightest fear of consequences. Hindu organisations have no faith in this government," said Vijayendra. 

 

Soon after Shetty's death, Karnataka Opposition leader R. Ashok had said the police knew there was threat to Suhas’ life. But no preventive action was taken. "This raises suspicion that there was possible complicity within the police department and the government. Hindu activists are becoming the target whenever Siddaramaiah comes to power. In 2013, when Siddaramaiah was the chief minister 36 Hindu activists were killed. This time too, our Hindu karyakarta was killed," he alleged. 

 

"There is a strange system being followed here. Team A is the real culprits who commit the crime and  Team B volunteers to get arrested," added Ashok. 

 

Dakshina Kannada MP, Captain Brijesh Chowta, has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking an NIA probe into the murder, where he claimed that the shocking and brutal murder of Suhas Shetty was "proof" of increasing unlawful activities, Islamic fundamentalism and anti-national elements in coastal Karnataka. 

India