Bengaluru: Cow vigilante Puneeth Kerehalli enters Muslim homes on Eid, activists demand action
Bengaluru: Lawyers, researchers, and social activists have urged the Bengaluru police to take preventive action against murder-accused cow vigilante Puneeth Kerehalli, following the circulation of videos showing him unlawfully entering Muslim households in the city during Eid-ul-Adha.
Kerehalli, affiliated with the Hindutva outfit Rashtra Rakshana Pade, uploaded videos on 4 and 6 June from areas with significant Muslim populations, including Tannery Road, Ahmednagar, and Shivajinagar. In these videos, he is seen entering homes and claiming to be "rescuing" cows allegedly brought for slaughter. Eid-ul-Adha, observed from the evening of 6 June, sees animal sacrifice as a part of religious practice.
In one of the 30-minute videos, Kerehalli is seen entering a house and filming cattle and goats, stating that “this is happening in every Muslim household.” A man identified by him as a police officer appears briefly, asking him to leave, but Kerehalli continues filming and making political accusations. In another video, he and his associates argue with locals in Ahmednagar over cattle.
Civil society members including advocates BT Venkatesh and Clifton D’Rozario, Dr Sylvia Karpagam, and activists Syed Tousif Masood and Zia Nomani submitted a complaint to senior police officials, demanding Kerehalli’s preventive detention under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) or the Goondas Act. They highlighted the threat of communal unrest triggered by such acts of vigilantism.
The complaint noted that despite police presence in the videos, no immediate action was taken to restrain Kerehalli. The activists stressed that enforcing the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020, is the responsibility of the police, not private individuals.
Kerehalli, who is the main accused in the March 2023 murder of cattle transporter Idrees Pasha in Ramanagara, continues to post such videos frequently. He has previously called for a boycott of Muslim vendors and opposed the sale of halal meat. Despite being a repeat offender, authorities have been slow to act, with officials reportedly declining to accept the latest complaint, citing the Bakrid holiday.
To ensure record of the complaint, copies were sent via email to the Commissioner of Police, top state police officials, Chief Secretary to the CM, Home Minister, and Bengaluru in-charge Minister DK Shivakumar.
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Bomb threat at Mangaluru RTO turns out to be hoax
Mangaluru (PTI): A search operation was carried out at the Regional Transport Office here on Monday after the office received a bomb threat email, which later turned out to be a hoax, police said.
The email was received on Sunday night but came to the notice of the authorities only on Monday afternoon, following which immediate precautionary measures were taken, they said.
According to police, the RTO office staff were evacuated as a safety measure, and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad was pressed into service to conduct a meticulous search of the building.
Police personnel and the dog squad were also deployed at the spot.
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“The email claimed that bombs were kept in the RTO office. The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad checked the premises thoroughly and no suspicious object was found. It was a hoax email,” a senior police officer said.
Officials said the authorities are treating the incident seriously and have launched an investigation to trace the source of the email.
“A case has been registered at the South police station in this regard and further investigation is underway,” he added.
