Outfits: Probe Tumakuru killings without bias

By Rithu Dravid | NT

Bengaluru: An uneasy calm prevailed in Peddanahalli Village in Tumakuru district on Sunday where two persons - a Dalit and a tribal - were tortured and murdered by a mob on Thursday night.

Girish Mudalagiriappa, 30, who belonged to Madiga community of the Scheduled Caste and his friend Girish, 32, who hailed from the Scheduled Tribe community of Nayaka, were murdered by a mob, alleging that the duo had stolen water pumps and accessories from farmers’ properties. The mob first burnt their legs and curtailed their mobility. Then, they beat them up with sticks and bludgeoned the duo to death.

Mudalagiriappa hailed from Peddanahalli while Girish was from neighbouring Machaldore.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Rahul Kumar Shahapurwad said more arrests were recorded on Sunday. However, he refused to provide the figures. On Saturday, he said 12 persons were arrested. Shahapurwad said the murders were not an attack on Dalits or lower caste people. “Members from all communities - Lingayat, Thigala and Madiga - were part of the murderous mob. They were beaten up and killed because they stole farm materials. We are intensifying the probe,” he said.

However, Narasimhamurthi, member of the Tumakuru district SC/ST vigilance committee, said that the investigation is moving at a snail’s pace. “We suspect external forces are trying to scuttle the probe. That is why the police could not arrest the prime accused. Around 40 people were involved in the murders. Only 12 of them have been arrested so far. We urge police to arrest all culprits soon. What we need is an unbiased investigation,” he said.

Dalit leaders who visited Peddanahalli on Sunday said 30 Dalit families in the village are now living in fear of reprisal. “Dalits in the village fear that upper-caste people will attack them for filing a police complaint,” said Dalitha Sangarsha Samithi’s (DSS) Tumakuru district president Cheluru Shivasanjappa. Turuvekare legislator Bharatiya Janata Party’s AS Jayaram has not visited the village even three days after the murders. He even refused to talk to News Trail for the second consecutive day. “I am busy and I don’t have time to comment on this issue,” he said.