An FIR has been lodged against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat for allegedly delivering a provocative speech capable of inciting communal tensions. The speech was made during a condolence meeting held in memory of Suhas Shetty, a Bajrang Dal activist and murder accused, at the Madwa Palace Convention Hall in Kavalapadur village, under the Bantwal Rural Police Station limits, on May 1, reported the Indian Express.
According to police, Bhat addressed around 500 attendees and made inflammatory remarks that could potentially disrupt public harmony. Based on the content of his speech, police registered a case under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), a provision related to promoting enmity and disturbing communal peace.
This isn’t the first time Bhat has been involved in controversy. On April 29, he stirred outrage at the Shrimatha Seva Ashram in Kasaragod’s Vorkady village by urging Hindus to arm themselves with swords and knives, citing the Pahalgam attack as justification.
Earlier in December 2023, an FIR was filed against him in Srirangapatna for making derogatory comments about Muslim women during a Hanuma Jayanti event, where he insultingly claimed that Muslim women did not have “permanent husbands” before the triple talaq law came into effect.
Suhas Shetty, in whose memory the meeting was held, was a member of Bajrang Dal and the primary accused in the 2022 murder of Mohammed Fazil in Surathkal. Shetty had five criminal cases against him—four in Mangaluru and one in Dakshina Kannada—and was murdered on May 1 in Mangaluru. Police have arrested eleven suspects in connection with his killing.
Separately, another act of violence occurred on May 27 when 32-year-old Abdul Rahiman was murdered while unloading sand at a client’s home in Kolthamajalu, Bantwal taluk. His colleague, 29-year-old Kalandar Shafi, was critically injured and remains in ICU care.
In the wake of escalating violence in the coastal region, the Karnataka government made key police transfers last week. Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal was shifted to serve as DIG of the Economic Offences Wing, CID. DIG (Intelligence) Sudheer Kumar Reddy replaced him as Mangaluru’s Police Commissioner. Dakshina Kannada SP Yatish N was also replaced by Arun K. Hariram Shankar, who now takes over as SP of Udupi district.
