Masood, a 19-year-old, one of four children in a family from Bellare of Sullia Taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, was brutally assaulted and killed in Bellare town, 80 km from Mangaluru, on 21 July.
He lost his father who was from Kasargod in Kerala at the age of 12. After the death, the family moved into their grandmother’s house in Bellare – where Masood had to start working at the age of 16 to support the family.
His mother Saramma says she wanted to provide her son good education and so she put him in a school with a hostel. The death of her husband however forced her to pull him out of school in class nine because the family had no breadwinners and Masood and his elder brother Mirshad had to go out to work.
Masood has a younger brother and a sister. He and his older brother were working as laborers and painters to make ends meet.
Before the fateful day when Masood was grievously attacked, a small fight over touching of shoulders had taken place between him and a Bellare local Sudhir. On July 19, the duo had an altercation and Masood returned home. Later, Sudhir and others asked Ibrahim Shanif, a friend of Masood, to bring Masood for a compromise meeting before a temple. Shanif who trusted Sudhir and his team took Masood to the temple but eight gang members assaulted Masood and hit him with a bottle. He died two days later in a hospital.
Masood wanted to build a house and also wanted to educate his younger siblings but it all vanished in thin air, a relative Shoukhat Ali said. The brothers earned about Rs 15,000- Rs 20,000 to help the family live a hand-to-mouth existence.
“He was not even very aware of society. He lacked maturity when it came to things happening in society because the focus was always to earn a living. He even did not know about the political parties and their activism here. He usually never stayed at home but was traveling to places where there was work and he has been doing it since the age of 16,” said Masood’s mother Saramma.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, local MLA S Angara, DK MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and other ministers from state cabinet visited the house of Praveen Nettaru, the BJP Youth leader who was killed on July 26, and compensated the family with Rs. 30 lakh. The CM and other leaders conveniently ignored meeting the kin and family of Masood.
The Muslim Central Committee of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, which has control over 1,000 mosques, boycotted the district peace committee meeting held at the deputy commissioner’s office. The Muslim Central Committee, said they did so because Basavaraj Bommai, who had visited Nettaru’s house, did not meet the families of Masood and Fazil.
“Why is one youth being treated differently to the other two? Also, only one case has been handed over to the NIA (National Investigation Agency),” the committee said.
The committee has announced a compensation of Rs. 30 lakh each to the kin of Masood and Fazil. Former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy also visited the kin of Masood on August 1, and handed Rs. five lakh to the family.
A case in this regard is registered at the Bellare Police Station and the cops have so far arrested eight people in connection with the murder. The arrested accused have been identified as Jim Ranjith, Shivaprasad, Bhaskar, Ranjith, Abhilash, Sudhir, Sunil K and Sadashiva.
