Right-wing activist Puneeth Kerehalli booked again, this time over ‘benami property’ allegations against Karnataka top cop M A Saleem

Soon after self-claimed right-wing activist Puneeth Kerehalli was arrested and released on bail for the second time this month, the Bengaluru police Friday registered a suo motu case against him for allegedly claiming that Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) M A Saleem was sheltering illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in his ‘benami’ property.

In the fresh case registered at the cybercrime police station, Kerehalli has been booked under Section 66C (identity theft) of the Information Technology Act and Sections 196 (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 353(1)(b) (statements conducing to public mischief), and 197(1)(c) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The FIR came after the social media monitoring team of the city police found a video in which Kerehalli, along with four to five associates, was seen barging into a place in Soladevanahalli belonging to one Sakeena Taslim.

In the video, the FIR states, “He (Kerehalli) went on to spread false news that the place where the illegal Bangladesh nationals were residing was a ‘benami’ property of M A Saleem. Further, claiming that Bangladeshi Muslims are residing illegally in Bengaluru, he made a live video of this incident and circulated it on social media platforms like Facebook and other social media sites.”