Former CM Siddaramaiah’s benevolence to the dreaded Popular Front of India (PFI) has come back to haunt the Congress. On the night of November 17th, Congress leader and former minister Tanveer Sait was attacked with a knife by a man when he was attending a wedding in Mysore. He was subsequently hospitalized to Columbia Asia hospital and is recuperating. The attacker Farhan Pasha was nabbed immediately.
Preliminary investigation showed that the arrested Farhan Pasha was an active member of PFI and SDPI. Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the attacker was from PFI and the police are looking for further evidence and other collaborators in the crime. The case is being probed by an SIT led by Mysuru Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) M Muthuraj.
As per latest reports the mastermind behind the attack on Tanveer Sait was also involved in the murder of RSS Swayamsevak Kyathamaranahalli Raju in 2016. The attack on Tanveer Sait is mostly due to the reason that he supported the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Ram Janmabhumi case.
Addressing the media over the incident and involvement of PFI, Chief Minister B Yediyurappa said, “There were riots in Shivamogga, there were riots in Mysuru. There was also murder, now there is an attack on Tanveer Sait. I ask Siddaramaiah, why is he protecting goondas? Why is he protecting PFI who are involved in murders and hooliganism? By withdrawing all the cases against them, did Siddaramaiah indirectly support the attack on Tanveer Sait? I urge him, the Leader of the Opposition to give an explanation.”
The BJP government is mulling to ban PFI after the evidence of their involvement emerged in the case.
Siddaramaiah dropped 175 cases against PFI
Despite the evidences against PFI and its members being invovled in murders and terror incidents, Siddamaramaiah’s govt did not ban PFI but even took back the cases against them in a move to appease the Muslims. Now, his policy of appeasement has come to haunt Congress leaders.
In 2015, Karnataka cabinet led by former CM Siddaramaiah decided to drop cases against members of Popular Front of India (PFI) and Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD), who were booked for rioting in different parts of the state in recent years. Many of those names were also involved in other attacks on Hindu leaders and events.
The BJP had come down heavily on the government and accused Siddaramaiah of playing the vote bank politics at the cost of the state’s security. This was done even though the police had specifically submitted a report to the state cabinet that PFI and KFD are dangerous organisations who indulge in violent, anti-social activities. Close to 1600 members of PFI and KFD were let off by this move. This emboldened the dreaded outfit and it bared its fangs across the state, including Mysore.
PFI bares its fangs in Mysore
PFI is the social outfit of SDPI which has been involved in several murders of Hindu leaders and terror incidents both in Kerala and Karnataka. Despite evidences of their involvement, Siddaramaiah as CM had quashed cases against PFI members after he became CM. PFI got a new lease of life and bared its fangs in different parts of the state including Mysore.
Investigation into the murder of Raju led to the mastermind Atheeq Ahmed alias ‘Timber’ Atheeq a prominent PFI member and a resident of Lashkar Mohalla in Mysore. He was involved in the murders of Hindu leaders Shashikumar in 2008 and ‘Vikrant’ Ramesh in 2009. He and other PFI members were also involved in the attack on Hindu leaders Giridhar and Ashok Pai in 2009.
In 2011, two school students Vignesh and Sudeendra of Hunsur near Mysore were abducted and killed by members of PFI who had floated another outfit called KFD. Those arrested included, Adil Pasha, Syed Ameen, Shabbir, Mohammad Kouser, Ataulla Khan and Saffeer Ahmad, all members of PFI.
Kyathamaranahalli Raju was the prime witness in the case of kidnap and murder of the two students from Hunsur and Atheeq wanted to eliminate Raju. He hatched a plan and Raju was killed in front of a tea shop in 2016 at Udayagiri. Atheeq went underground but was arrested after a massive manhunt in Hyderabad. Adil Pasha who was arrested in the muder of Raju is said to be the mastermind of the attack on Tanveer Sait.
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