PFI's Bengaluru head held for RSS worker's murder

Asim Shariff, 40, the Bengaluru district president of Popular Front of India (PFI), has been arrested over the murder of RSS worker R Rudresh. He is the fifth man to be arrested in the high-profile case.

Shariff was picked up on the basis of information given by the four suspects arrested on October 27 — Mohammad Sadiq alias Mohammad Mazhar, Waseem Ahmad, Mohammad Mujeebullah and Irfan Pasha, a senior police officer said on the condition of anonymity.

Shariff, a resident of SK Garden in JC Nagar, who runs a paint store in Benson Town, was picked up in Peenya, north Bengaluru, late on Wednesday night. A local court has remanded him in police custody till November 16.

The officer quoted the four main suspects as saying that they acted “at the behest” of Shariff. The PFI functionary had “instructed” them to “eliminate” two RSS workers, including Rudresh, the officer said, quoting the suspects.

“As soon as the PFI’s name surfaced in the investigation, Shariff went into hiding. He told his family that he would be away for sometime as he was meeting people for his business. He sent his family to stay with a relative and locked the house. He went to Kerala and Tamil Nadu before retuning to Bengaluru two days ago, assuming that the suspects will not reveal his name,” the officer said.

Shariff was traced to Peenya based on “credible information” and is being interrogated on his role in the killing. “He appears to be the lynchpin of the gang, acting as the go-to man for the suspects and other PFI functionaries,” the officer said.

Another officer, also speaking anonymously, said that Shariff “abhorred” the RSS, the BJP and their activities. “He realised that Rudresh was gaining ground in Shivajinagar by organising RSS’ activities. Rudresh had brought some local Muslim leaders into the BJP’s fold. Shariff feared losing his hold on Shivajinagar. He began gathering information about Rudresh and his activities. He learnt about the fight between Rudresh and Mazhar, who runs a garage near his house. He got in touch with Mazhar and lured him into the crime,” the officer said.

Shariff was at his home when Rudresh was hacked to death. “The assailants, after killing Rudresh, met him at Benson Town. They collected money from him and went into hiding,” the officer said.

The police have searched the residence and office of Kumar and collected a few documents.
DH News Service

Top cop grills PFI functionary
The Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP), Om Prakash, chaired a meeting of senior police officers at the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) on Wednesday night and discussed the investigation into Rudresh’s murder. He later went to the Ramamurthy Nagar police station where Shariff was lodged along with the other suspects, and interrogated them. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Intelligence Bureau, and police from Tamil Nadu and Kerala also questioned Shariff as they suspect the assailants have links with the banned outfit
al-Ummah, a police source said.

PFI calls arrest ‘unfair’
The PFI has condemned the arrest of Asim Shariff, the president of its Bengaluru district unit, over the killing of RSS worker R Rudresh.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Yasir Hasan, general secretary of the PFI’s Bengaluru district unit, said the police had been maintaining from day one that local issues had led to the murder. But the BJP claims that it was the “handiwork” of the PFI. It is “pressuring” the police and “misleading” the investigation, he said.

“They just want the PFI banned in Karnataka. Whenever any worker of the BJP or the RSS is targeted, the PFI is blamed,” Hasan said. “It’s totally unfair.” He claimed that the four suspects were no longer associated with the PFI.