Venugopal Naik was stabbed to death in T Narasipura after clashes with another Hindu group over Puneeth Rajkumar’s poster.
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A 32-year-old member of the right-wing outfit Yuva Brigade was stabbed to death at T Narasipura taluk in the Mysuru district of Karnataka following a clash between two groups of youths who were celebrating “Hanuma Jayanti” in their area on Sunday, 9 July.
The deceased has been identified as Venugopal Nayak, a resident of Srirampura Colony, who owned a vegetable shop.
Soon after the murder on Sunday night following rioting and clashes between two groups of Hindu youths, a police team set up camp in the area to bring the situation under control.
According to the police, a group of youths were celebrating “Hanuma Jayanti” on Saturday near Sriram colony.
One of the accused persons, Shankar Gowda alias Thuppa, came in his jeep with a flex photograph of the late Sandalwood actor Puneeth Rajkumar stuck atop the vehicle.
The group of youths led by Venugopal Naik, which had organised and was celebrating Hanuma Jayanti, told Gowda to remove the actor’s picture as it was not appropriate for the Hanuma Jayanti festivities.
They then forcibly removed the photograph from Gowda’s vehicle, said the police.
Another group of men — friends of Gowda — then arrived on their bikes to attend the festivities, but Venugopal Naik’s group members did not allow their bikes to be parked nearby.
These two instances triggered animosity between the two groups, who confronted each other on Sunday afternoon.
The two groups briefly clashed after an exchange of heated arguments that escalated into physical violence.
However, onlookers intervened and pacified the two parties and send them home.
On Sunday night, members of Shankar Gowda’s group arrived at Venugopal Naik’s house and asked him to come to the front of the Fire Service Station on Thalakad Road, where one of the accused — identified as Anil — ran a servicing station.
The group members claimed they wanted to strike a truce between both parties, the police said.
After Venugopal reached there, he was assaulted with beer bottles and was stabbed by a broken bottle more than six times.
An injured Naik was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, the police said.
His body was then shifted to a government hospital in Mysuru where a post-mortem examination was done.
The T Narasipura police registered a case of murder and rioting, identified six of the accused by their names, and arrested two of them.
The arrested have been identified as Sandesh Kumar and Manikanta, but the four others — including prime accused Shankar Gowda and Anil — have gone absconding, a senior police officer said.
Hindutva activist Chakravarty Sulibele, who is the chief of the Yuva Brigade, which calls itself an organisation that intends to do “something good for the country”, alleged that Naik was brutally murdered by the members of the Congress.
“Siddaramayya 2.0 expanding its tentacles. We lost one of our volunteers yesterday just because he was an active organiser of Hanuma Jayanti! He was brutally murdered by the supporters of Congress…Karnataka burning… Another WB soon to be witnessed… #YuvaBrigade [sic],” he tweeted.
Siddaramayya 2.0 expanding its tentacles. We lost one of our volunteers yesterday just because he was an active organiser of Hanuma Jayanti! He was brutally murdered by the supporters of Congress..
Karnataka burning..
Another WB soon to be witnessed..#YuvaBrigade pic.twitter.com/0vMDsdDSZV— Chakravarty Sulibele (Modi Ka Pariwar) (@astitvam) July 10, 2023
Investigations so far in the case have not backed this claim against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Mysuru district Superintendent of Police (SP) Seema Latkar told South First, “The two groups were celebrating Hanuma Jayanti under a common banner of the Veeranjaneya Balaga and Yuva Brigade. While the victim was a member of the Yuva Brigade, the others were not associated with it. They all belonged to the same locality and also knew each other.”
She added: “At present, we have arrested two of the accused. The two do not seem to be associated with any political party. We have to secure the other accused and investigate the murder, and only then their affiliations to any political outfits will emerge.”
A senior police officer told South First that the Yuva Brigade members had called for a bandh on Monday. Some of the shops remained voluntarily shut.
The law-and-order situation at present was under control in the area, the officer added.
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