BENGALURU: Four months after the state government handed over the death case of 18-year-old
Paresh Mesta that led to the protests in state to the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the agency has registered a case, with the sources in the
CBI saying that the probe will begin soon.
Special Crime branch of CBI, Chennai on Monday has registered the case and has appointed police inspector S Subramanian as the investigation officer. SP of the branch A Saravanan will monitor the investigations.
The CBI has reproduced the same First Information Report (FIR) copy of the state police and have named five accused namely Azad Annigeri, Ashif Rafiq, Mahamad Faisal Annigeri, Imtiyaz Gani and Salim, all are residents of Honnavara. All the accused in this case are arrested.
According to the CBI FIR, which is a reproduction of Honnavara police, on December 6 around 9pm, the accused gathered near Honnavara bus stand with a common intention.
The specific (Muslim) community group suddenly started pelting stones and by using deadly weapons - such as iron rod, sword and sickle - went on damaging temple, shops, tempos and assaulting public and at this time, they brutally killed Paresh Mesta and threw his body in Shettikere lake to destroy the evidence. Paresh's body was found floating on the Shettikere lake, near Good Luck hotel, Honnavara on December 8, 2017 around 7am. The FIR details were registered based on the complaint filed by Kamalakar Budavanth Mesta, Paresh's father.
The case, which led to the violence in Uttara Kannada district, totally became a political issue after BJP claimed that Paresh was their party worker after which the state government handed over the case to the CBI for further probe.
In February this year, BJP president Amit Shah met the father of the deceased at his house and assured his support. Kamalakar also had expressed his disappointment for delay in registering the case by CBI and had demanded a National Investigation Agency probe.
CBI sources say that the probe will begin soon.