On May 30, 2018, Hussainabba a sixty one year old man involved in cattle business was attacked and killed by the Bajrang Dal activists with the help of police. Hussainabba who was allegedly transporting the cattle in a scorpio, from Perdoor to Udupi was stopped by the police in the pretext of inspection; him and three others in the car were scared of the consequences and started to run away from the police. According to a report in daijiworld, Hussainabba ran in a different direction and was chased by the police.
One of the two who escaped, according to this report received a call from the police, informing the death of Hussainabba. The family was told that, he fell off a hill while trying to escape and died; the family however refused to believe this narrative of the police as there were visible injuries on his eyes and head, and have filed a complaint against the police and the Bajrang Dal activists.
The reason why the family suspect the involvement of the Bajrang Dal activists in the murder of Hussainaba is because, two years ago, he was attacked by the Bajrang Dal activists. Speaking to reporters of daijiworld, Hussainabba's brother-in-law said, "Two years ago, Bajrang Dal activists had tied up Hussainabba and forced him to drink urine. The same people may have been behind his death. The call informing about his death was made through Hussainabba's phone. The caller said Hussainabba was found fallen on a hill."
Since the ascent of Modi, there have been 78 cases of mob attacks and lynchings in the name of cow protection, led mostly by Sangh Parivar associated persons. These horrific attacks caused deaths of 29 people and left 273 injured, including 148 seriously injured. Over two thirds of the victims were Muslims and the remaining mostly Dalits. These incidents were sparked off by wild and manufactured rumours of beef eating, cow slaughter, etc. In some cases, like Junaid’s lynching in Faridabad, a minor incident in a train turned into lynching by a hate filled mob. In most cases, the killers are either free or the trials are stuck in court.
The police have so far arrested Udupi Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Suresh Mendon, and Bajrang Dal activists Prasad Kondady, Umesh Shetty and Ratan. The sub-inspector of Hiriadka police station was suspended for dereliction of duty and not taking suitable action in the case.
Shashidhar Hemmadi, a journalist in Udupi district spoke to Newsclick and confirmed these developments.
On June 5, 2018, the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs, including Shobha Karandlaje an MP from the Udupi-chickmaglur constituency, along with VHP activists, protested these arrests in Mangalore. They were against the arrests of the Bajrang Dal activists, and were arguing that no action be taken against the arrested activists till the post-mortem reports are out, explained the journalist.
