A particular court docket in Bengaluru has framed expenses of terrorism, homicide and conspiracy in opposition to 10 individuals from Karnataka’s Shivamogga area over the February 20, 2022 homicide of Bajrang Dal activist Harsha Nagaraj alias Harsha Hindu within the Doddapete space of Shivamogga metropolis.
A particular court docket for terrorism instances on Thursday framed the costs in opposition to Reehan Sharif, 23, and 9 others below the Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act, 1967, and sections 302 and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) primarily based on a chargesheet filed by the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA). All of the accused have pleaded not responsible and have chosen to be tried by the court docket.
Nagaraj was murdered on the night time of February 20 within the Doddapete police station limits of Shivamogga after he left his dwelling to eat dinner at a restaurant with a few mates.
A gang that was mendacity in wait in a automobile and an auto-rickshaw hacked the Bajrang Dal employee to demise with swords when he received remoted from his associates for some time.
Shivamogga witnessed a short spell of violence the following morning when a funeral procession was taken out with Nagaraj’s physique.
The native police initially arrested Sharif alias Kasi, Mohammed Kashif, 30, Asif alias Asifullah Khan alias Chiku, 24, and Abdul Afwan alias Derar, 22, who’ve a historical past of involvement in as many as 16 crimes in Shivamogga since 2016. The case was later handed over to the NIA for investigation.
Aside from Kasi, Kashif, Chiku and Derar, the NIA has named Syed Faroz S alias Nihal, 21, Abdul Khadar Jilani, 25, Roshan A, 27, Faraz Pasha, 26, Syed Nadeem, 22, and Jafar Sadiq, 52.
All of the suspects who’re in judicial custody at current have been moreover charged with inflicting “communal disharmony and ill-will among the many members of Hindu and Muslim neighborhood and thereby dedicated the offence punishable below Sec.153A of IPC”.
Nagaraj had 4 prison instances in opposition to him beginning with a January 2016 case the place he was accused of inflicting intentional insult to faith by posts made on social media in opposition to Prophet Mohammed.
The case had introduced notoriety to the then 22-year-old which continued to develop subsequently on account of his emergence as a neighborhood thug, police sources mentioned.
Nagaraj was additionally linked to a few instances of assault in Shivamogga between 2017 and 2019, together with two in opposition to Muslims. In December 2020, he was arrested in a rioting case within the Shivamogga fabric market the place a gaggle of Muslims have been attacked and was launched on bail in January 2021.
Within the days earlier than his demise, Nagaraj had been lively on social media over the anti-hijab protests on some school campuses in Shivamogga.
The homicide that occurred when the BJP was in energy in Karnataka grew to become a rallying level for the BJP and right-wing teams and an NIA probe was facilitated after BJP leaders like Union minister Shobha Karandlaje after which state minister Ok S Eshwarappa sought it.