Congress worker arrested over inflammatory post on MLA V. Sunil Kumar

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

The Udupi police have arrested a Congress worker for allegedly posting an image depicting Karkala MLA V. Sunil Kumar as beheaded on social media, along with an inflammatory Kannada song.

In a statement, the police said the complainant, Vignesh Prasad Rao, noticed on Saturday a video on the Facebook account of Prasad Shetty depicting the MLA as beheaded. Shetty is heard in the video calling for the MLA to be beheaded, followed by the Kannada film song “Hodi Maga Hodi Maga Bidabeda Avna” (Hit him, hit him, do not leave him). Mr. Rao sought action against Shetty for allegedly posting an inflammatory video calling for the MLA’s murder. The Karkala Rural police registered a case under Sections 55 (abetment of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life), 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause a riot), 351(3) (criminal intimidation by threatening to cause death or grievous injury) and 353(1)(c) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

After collecting evidence that Shetty had posted the video, the police arrested him. He will be produced before the jurisdictional court, the police said.

Congress workers had called for laying siege to the Karkala Rural police station to protest against Shetty’s arrest. The protest was called off after the police pointed to Home Minister Priyank Kharge’s statement that action would be taken against those involved in such acts.

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.