Hanuman Chalisa row: Accused's brother says 'jail today, bail tom'

Bengaluru shopkeeper assaulted for playing bhajan before azaan — Shopkeeper Mukesh arguing with his attackers

Bengaluru: The Karnataka BJP on Tuesday criticised the Congress government over “politics of appeasement” following a social media post by the brother of a man accused of attacking a shop owner for allegedly playing Hanuman Chalisa.

Taking it to social media, the Karnataka BJP slammed the “fundamentalist elements” treading the same path as that of the Congress leaders in the state who claim that “jail today, bail tomorrow”.

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While there were widespread protests condemning the attack on Mukesh in Bengaluru’s Nagarathpet for allegedly playing Hanuman Chalisa, the brother of Suleiman, one of the accused persons, put up a post that said: “Aaj jail kal bail fir wohi khel.” (Jail today, bail tomorrow, and the same game after that)

“This clearly shows that the ‘fundamentalists’ in Karnataka think that no matter what they do, they will be protected by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar,” the state BJP said.

“The Congress government is solely responsible for such developments. Action must be taken to ensure that the accused don’t come out of jail anytime soon,” it added.

The Karnataka Police on Tuesday detained and released Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje and BJP MLA Suresh Kumar with scores of Hindu activists and BJP workers, who were protesting to condemn the assault on a shop owner for allegedly playing ‘Hanuman Chalisa’.

Tension prevailed within the Halasurugate police station limits following the incident.

Hindu activists and BJP workers gathered in Nagarathpet and started playing ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ even as police tried to take Mukesh into custody.

BJP MLA Suresh Kumar condemned the police action and asked them as to why they were taking the victim into their custody?

When the state police did not budge and tried to take Mukesh away, the MLA Suresh Kumar came in front of the police vehicle and protested. However, the BJP MLA was taken into custody along with Shobha Karandlaje, who also arrived at the spot, to take part in the protest.

The Hindu activists alleged that instead of real culprits, the police have arrested those who are not connected to the incident.