The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) candidate Shafi Bellare from Puttur has lost his deposit in Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023. It is pertinent to note that SDPI is the political arm of the banned terror organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) and that Shafi Bellare is an accused in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Praveen Nettaru murder case.
Shafi Bellare was arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in relation to Praveen Nettaru’s murder case. The NIA’s charge sheet alleges that the SDPI candidate did the reconnaissance of Praveen Nettaru’s home and provided information about his activities.
The SDPI defended Shafi Bellare’s potential candidature claiming that he is ‘falsely accused’ in the murder case. The SDPI General Secretary said, “He has done nothing wrong. He is politically trapped and sent to jail in this case. His name is there in our first list of probable candidates.” He was later announced as SDPI’s candidate for Puttur.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) objected to Shafi Bellare’s candidature for the assembly elections. BJP leader S Prakash had said, “It is disgusting that a murder accused is announced as the candidate for assembly poll. The SDPI and PFI are terror and murderous organisations. The blatant support of the murder accused who is behind the bar; the SDPI has proved that their colour has not changed and they remain an anti-social element.”
The SDPI candidate received just 2,788 votes which is a mere 1.61 percent vote share. The main fight was between the Congress candidate Ashok Kumar Rai and the independent candidate and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker Arun Kumar Puthila. Ashok Kumar Rai has won Puttur with 66,607 votes with 38.55 percent vote share, with Arun Kumar Puthila coming in second at 62,458 votes with 36.15 percent vote share.
BJP’s Asha Thimmappa secured came in third at 37,558 votes, while Janata Dal (Secular) and Aam Aadmi Party candidates managed just 684 and 650 votes respectively.
Praveen Nettaru Murder Case
On the night of July 26, 2022, three people had come in a vehicle and hacked 32-year-old Nettaru to death outside his chicken shop off the Puttur-Sullia Road at Bellare in Mangaluru. Upon investigation, the state police found that PFI was involved in the murder and thereafter, the matter was handed over to the NIA.
Praveen Nettaru was killed in full public view with lethal weapons to create terror among the people at large, especially among members of a particular community. The banned outfit PFI formed secret teams called ‘Service Teams’ or ‘Killer Squads’ to carry out killings of its ‘perceived enemies’ and targets as part of its agenda to create terror, communal hatred and unrest in society and to further its agenda of establishing Islamic rule in India by 2047.
The NIA’s charge sheet, which was filed against 20 PFI members, further mentions that “these ‘Service Team’ members were given arms as well attack training and surveillance techniques training in order to identify, list out and to mount surveillance on individuals and leaders belonging to certain communities and groups”.
These ‘Service Team’ members were further trained to assault and kill identified targets on the instructions of senior PFI leaders,” said the NIA in the charge sheet.
Besides involvement in Nettaru’s murder, the PFI cadres are also accused of involvement in several terrorist acts and the murder of several members of RSS and BJP, including Sanjith (Kerala, November 2021), V-Ramalingam (Tamil Nadu, 2019), Nandu (Kerala, 2021), Abhimanyu (Kerala, 2018), Bibin (Kerala, 2017), Sharath (Kamataka, 2017), R Rudresh (Kamataka, 2016), Praveen Puyari (Karnataka, 2016), and Sasi Kumar (Tamil Nadu, 2016).
The MHA has said that the PFI cadres have carried out criminal activities and brutal murders for the sole objective of “disturbing public peace and tranquillity and creating a reign of terror in the public mind”.
The MHA has also mentioned “international linkages of PFI with Global Terrorist Groups”, and that some of the outfit activists have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and participated in terror activities in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some of these PFI cadres linked to ISIS have been killed in these conflict theatres, and State Police and Central Agencies have arrested some, the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Muyahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a proscribed terrorist organization”.
