K’taka cops hunt for Maulvi who delivered hate speech before attack on police station
Bengaluru: Karnataka Police on Wednesday launched a hunt for an Islamic religious teacher who delivered hate speech provoking the mob to attack a police station in Mysuru city over an objectionable social media post.
As per sources, the accused Maulvi has been identified as Mufti Mustaq Maqbooli and the social media post was over the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi Assembly election.
The police have got Maqbooli’s video clip, which has gone viral and is seen making highly provoking statements, including taking extreme violence.
The police have tracked the identities of 50 to 60 people who took to violence, including stone pelting. The police said, all of them would be detained for questioning and legal procedures would be initiated soon. The accused are identified with the CCTV footage.
Police sources stated that the majority of the people who indulged in stone pelting were localities. A special team headed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) has been formed to probe the case.
Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara said on Tuesday that orders have been issued to arrest those who incited violence by pelting stones at the Udayagiri police station in Mysuru and take legal action against them.
“The police had arrested the accused responsible for the objectionable social media post to celebrate the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). However, around 200 people gathered near the police station, demanding that the accused be handed over to them. They then created a ruckus and threw stones at the station. The police had to use tear gas to bring the situation under control,” he stated.
Earlier, Karnataka Police had detained one person in connection with a controversial social media post making communal comments against a particular community while celebrating the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the New Delhi Assembly elections which triggered tension in Mysuru city.
The accused, a resident of Kalyannagar in Mysuru, had put up a post ridiculing Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, former Chief Ministers Akhilesh Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal. The accused further made provocative communal statements against a particular religious group. The post went viral on social media on Monday evening.
By late Monday night, a group belonging to the minority community gathered in front of the Udayagiri police station demanding action against the accused person.
Although the police tried to pacify the crowd and even roped in religious leaders who requested them to calm down, the situation turned violent and the crowd started pelting stones on the police station. The mob also attacked the official vehicle of the DCP.
They raised slogans and when the situation went out of control, the police resorted to lathi-charge and later fired tear gas.
Additional police forces were summoned and the senior police officers along with local political leaders appealed to the crowd and assured them that action would be taken against the accused person. They somehow managed to convince the mob to withdraw the protest.
Though the police have controlled the situation, tension prevails in the area.