GUV: REMARKS ON SHETTY MURDER CASE HAVE BEEN MISINTERPRETED

Karnataka assembly speaker UT Khader has issued a clarification following criticism of his earlier remarks on the murder of right-wing activist Suhas Shetty in Mangaluru.

- Press Trust of India

BENGALURU: Chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said he had no prior knowledge of reports that a portion of the ₹25 lakh ex-gratia compensation paid to the family of Mohammed Fazil, who was killed in 2022, was allegedly misused to fund the murder of right-wing activist Suhas Shetty. He added that he would seek details from home minister G Parameshwara and Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister Dinesh Gundu Rao.

"I have to look into it. I don't have any information. Dinesh Gundu Rao and home minister (G Parameshwara) had been there. I haven't spoken to them yet. I will say after talking to them," Siddaramaiah told reporters while responding to a question about the police investigations, suggesting that ₹5 lakh from the compensation might have been paid to the contract killers of Shetty. While the BJP didn't issue a statement claiming this, some reports alleged that the money paid by Congress was used to fund the murder.

Suhas Shetty, facing five criminal cases in Mangaluru and Dakshina Kannada districts, including two charges of murder, was hacked to death on May 1 in the Kinnikambla area under Bajpe police station limits in Mangaluru. He was the prime accused in the 2022 murder of 23-year-old Fazil, a temporary worker at HPCL, who was attacked by four masked men in Surathkal on July 28, 2022. That killing had taken place just two days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth worker Praveen Nettaru was murdered, igniting widespread protests and unrest across the region.