BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said his government has decided to assign the criminal investigation department (CID) to probe the muder case of 22-year old Chandru, who was allegedly stabbed to death by three Muslim youths on April 5 in JJ Nagar police limits in Bengaluru.
Karnataka home minister says youth killed as he didn't know Urdu, retracts statement
The CM’s move to handover the case to CID comes in the wake of the contradicting statements from a section of BJP functionaries and police about the cause of Chandru’s death.
Home minister Araga Jnenendra on the day of incident had initially stated that the group of youths killed Chandru enraged by his denial to speak in Urdu, but withdrew his statement after the city police commissioner Kamal Pant cited a road rage related to bike coalition as the reason for the murder.
But, the incident took a new turn on Saturday after BJP national general secretary CT Ravi and state general secretary N Ravikumar alleged that the police commissioner had lied and even pressured the home minister to hide the truth.
While this has given rise to a fresh bout of slugfest between the ruling BJP and opposition parties, Bommai decided to hand over the investigation of the case to CID apparently owing to the criticism of the principal opposition Congress especially.
"It is not important who is criticising and what they talk. What is very important is to unearth the truth. In this backdrop I spoke to the city police commissioner and director general of police on Saturday and decided to entrust the probe to CID," said Bommai. "Let there be impartial investigation by the third party. The police commissioner will hand it over to the CID after consulting the DGP."
Jnanendra at a press conference said the case has already been handed over to the CID and hoped that the truth will prevail.
"There is no question of hiding the fact. We have asked the CID to investigate the case as we are keen on knowing the truth and punish the culprits," said Jnanendra.
However, this has not stopped the Congress functionaries from attacking the government and the home minister.
"The statements of the home minister and police commissioner are contradicting each other. The BJP functionaries are only provoking a particular community against the other. But, the worry is that the state will not prosper if the atmosphere is not conducive to business," said leader of opposition in legislative assembly Siddaramaiah.
Leader of opposition in legislative council BK Hariprasad attacked Jnanedra and sought his resignation terming him unfit to be the home minister. Congress legislator Priyank Kharge dared the government to suspend the police commissioner if he had lied.
"There is no threat to the law and order in the state nor that I am unfit. Let the CID investigate and the truth come out," said Jnanendra.
