Mangaluru (Karnataka), April 30 (IANS) Commenting on the mob lynching incident reported from Mangaluru over alleged ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans raised by a man, the CPI-M has claimed that the police tried to cover up the case and demanded the suspension of senior police officers.
Muneer Katipalla, District Secretary, CPI-M Mangaluru, stated on Wednesday that the party’s District Committee demands that Vamanjoor Inspector Shiva Prasad and Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal, who have committed serious dereliction of duty, be suspended immediately in connection with the mob lynching case.
The state government must take these facts seriously, he said.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) should be constituted under the leadership of a senior, honest, and trustworthy IPS officer from outside the district to probe this case, he demanded.
Similarly, a separate investigation must be conducted into the deliberate attempts made by the police department to cover up the incident, Muneer demanded.
Muneer stated, “The FIR filed in the case stands as strong evidence that the Mangaluru City Commissionerate Police deliberately attempted to cover up the Kudupu mob lynching and murder case.
“The Vamanjoor Police Station received information within an hour that an unidentified man had fallen victim to a mob lynching at Kudupu Samrat Grounds on the afternoon of April 27, 2025, around 3 p.m. After two hours, around 5 p.m, the police reached the spot where the battered and bruised dead body was found.”
He alleged, “By then, the police had a full understanding of the incident. Naturally, the information had also reached the Police Commissioner.”
“However, for various reasons such as the fact that the leaders of the assaulting group — BJP-affiliated influential figures like Ravindra Nayak, Manjunath, and others — were recognised as being close to local MLAs, and if the mob lynching gained national attention, it would tarnish the Police Commissioner’s image, the police decided to weaken or, if possible, completely close the case,” he stated.
As part of this plan, the police first made Manjunath, who played a key role in the mob lynching, file a report stating that an “unidentified body” had been found, and registered an Unnatural Death case accordingly, Muneer stated.
Despite being fully aware of the entire incident, the police issued a lookout notice suggesting that the victim might have died due to some kind of intoxication, or due to a fall after a scuffle with someone, pointing to minor injuries on the body — an attempt to wash their hands off the case, he charged.
Muneer further stated, “Even when media representatives persistently questioned the Police Commissioner about the incident, he maintained silence for 36 hours, merely stating, ‘Do not pay heed to rumours, please wait.’
“Only after certain social activists and political leaders raised their voices the next day (April 28), and after discussions erupted on social media and at the state level, did Commissioner Anupam Agrawal order a post-mortem and register an FIR under murder and mob lynching charges based on the autopsy report. By the time this FIR was registered, 32 hours had passed since the incident.”
“For the second FIR, the police chose as complainant Keshav, a close associate of the communal gang that carried out the mob lynching. In the complaint filed by Keshav, it is recorded that: ‘An unidentified person was seen running towards the ground shouting ‘Pakistan, Pakistan’ and not raising any ‘Zindabad’ slogans. Observing this, Manjunath, Sachin, and others told me, ‘He is shouting about Pakistan; we must not let him go.’ They chased him down as a group and assaulted him with sticks and kicks until he died. When I tried to intervene, they threatened me. I left the spot, and later that night, while at home, I came to know that Manjunath himself had filed a report about discovering the body,’” Muneer stated quoting the complaint.
A separate investigation is required into the series of developments that occurred over the 32 hours following the mob lynching, he demanded.
“Despite having complete information about the assault group, the police first took a complaint from one of the key assailants, registered a weak UD case, issued a misleading lookout notice, withheld information from the media for 36 hours, conducted a postmortem and registered a murder FIR only after a strong public outcry.
“They chose as the second complainant a person closely associated with the assailants and introduced the mention of ‘Pakistan’ into the complaint after a delay of 30 hours,” Muneer charged.
“All of this constitutes strong evidence that the police department made a deliberate attempt to cover up the case and protect the communal mob involved in the lynching.
“Was there no one else available to lodge a complaint apart from the members of the assaulting group? Was there no possibility for the police to register a suo motu complaint in such a grave case?” Muneer questioned.
–IANS
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