Shobha Karandlaje Caught Red-Handed Spreading Rumors about Suicide of 19 Year Old; Not Her First Time Offence!!
Udupi: Just three days after being re-elected as an MP for the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha constituency, Shobha Karandlaje was already keen to capitalize on a young boy’s death in order to paint a false narrative and spread totally unsubstantiated rumors surrounding the tragedy.
On May 26, 2019 a 19 year old boy was found dead in Hire Bagewadi village located within the Belagavi district last Sunday. The boy was identified as Shivakumar Balaramappa Uppar aka Shivu Uppar and was said to be a Bajrang Dal activist. His body was found hanging in the APMC Yard by local traders who immediately informed the police. Subsequently, a complaint was lodged after Bajrang Dal activists demanded a detailed inquiry into his death.
On Tuesady, a full post-mortem autopsy explicitly stated that the victim’s death was a suicide.
However, before the police could even conclude their investigation, Karandlaje took to twitter and accused “cow smugglers” of murdering the victim with the hashtag #JusticeforShivuUppar. The allegations from the two-term BJP MP failed to provide a single shred of evidence and mostly relied on incredible rumors being propagated by Bajrang Dal activists themselves.
The police even issued a clarification in an attempt to silence the wrongful speculation. Belagavi Police Commissioner Lokesh Kumar said, “There were no injury marks found on the body. It was a case of suicide and it has been confirmed by post-mortem. He was in the Bajrang Dal earlier but his death has nothing to do with that. His family has also clarified this.”
But even the Police Commissioner’s clarification did not stop several BJP leaders like CT Ravi and Belagavi MP Suresh Angadi from propagating lies about the suicide.
Shivu Uppar, a 18 years young Activist was found dead by hanging in Belagavi, Karnataka.
He was in the forefront to protect Cows from being smuggled and slaughtered.
I demand @CMofKarnataka to order an inquiry into this suspicious death and take suitable action immediately.
— C T Ravi ?? ಸಿ ಟಿ ರವಿ (@CTRavi_BJP) May 27, 2019
Not Karandlaje’s First Time
This has not been Shobha Karandlaje’s first attempt at spreading false rumors and creating communal tension. In 2017, Karandlaje tried to provoke communal violence by stoking fears among the Hindu majority. In this case, she took to social media once again and spread rumors of a 14 year old girl who claimed to have been assaulted by two youths belonging to a different community. The girl’s claims were proven false after police found that her injuries were self-inflicted. Hannovar police station had also filed a case against Shobha Karandlaje under IPC sections 153, 153A, and 505 of spreading fake news.
All these incidents provide an insight into Karandlaje’s brazen agenda of trying to create a communal divide in the otherwise harmonious and diverse society of Coastal Karnataka.
UPDATE: Shobha Karandlaje tweeted a clarification at 12:00PM on Tuesday and thereby acknowledged the findings of the victim’s post-mortem report. However, she has neither apologized nor taken down her misleading tweet written on Sunday.
