Karnataka CM says BJP creating law and order problems in state

The BJP in Karnataka enforced a bandh in two taluks of the Shivamogga district on Wednesday in protest against the lack of arrests in the case of the death of the school girl in Thirthahalli on Friday.

A senior minister in the Siddaramaiah government Kimmane Ratnakar had two days ago accused the BJP of communalizing the death of the school girl in Shivammoga through its agitations.

Shivamogga has been witnessing a series of protests and lock downs since news of the death of the girl became public Saturday. Siddaramaiah ordered a CID probe into the death on Tuesday and a team of CID sleuths reached Thirthahalli on Wednesday to launch investigations.

The father of the school girl filed a complaint on Friday night stating that his daughter was allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted by three youths on Wednesday morning. The youths according to the complaint allegedly forced the girl to ingest a poisonous substance and abandoned her.

Based on the father’s delayed complaint in the case the BJP has accused the Shivamogga police of not arresting the accused including a boy from a minority community and have launched protests.

“We have no confidence in an investigation by the CID. We want a CBI inquiry. The culprits are being protected by the state government because some belong to a minority community,’’ BJP state president Prahlad Joshi alleged on Tuesday.

Preliminary investigations in the case have according to the police unearthed a contradictory narrative where the school girl may have committed suicide. According to the Inspector General of Police of the Eastern Range Dr Parashivamurthy a preliminary post mortem report has not shown signs of any external injuries on the 14-year-old raising doubts over the allegation of sexual assault and forced ingestion of poison. Police have also claimed to have found a suicide note among the school books of the girl.

Sources said that the young girl had been spotted with a boy her parents had warned her against last Wednesday morning and had been taken home by a relative. She was allegedly severely reprimanded by her parents. She began vomiting in signs of poisoning late on Wednesday evening at her home and was taken to two hospitals before being moved to Manipal where she died.

The school girl’s father lodged a police complaint of abduction, sexual assault and poisoning soon after her death on Friday night. BJP leaders and youth groups launched protests the next day and the protests have continued since then.