Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spokesperson M. Lakshmana on Friday sought action against the BJP leaders who had allegedly fanned religious hatred in December 2017 after the death of Paresh Mesta in Uttara Kannada district’s Honnavar.
After CBI recently filed a B report in the case terming Mesta’s death as accidental, Mr. Lakshmana told reporters in Mysuru that a battery of BJP leaders including Shobha Karandlaje, Aravind Limbavalli, C..T. Ravi, Sunil Kumar and Ananthkumar Hegde, who were in the forefront demanding the resignation of the then government, had misled the public by falsely claiming that the killing was a gruesome murder by Muslims.
The communal clashes and riots that ensued led had to a loss of an estimated ₹150 crore of public and private property while five Muslim youth, who were booked in the case, had to spend three-and-a-half years in jail, Mr. Lakshmana said while seeking the resignation of Ms. Shobha Karandlaje, who is now Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, and necessary action against the other BJP leaders. i
