PFI Workers Trained In Syria Being Used To Execute 'Kerala Model Killings' In Karnataka, Says Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje

Top leaders in Karnataka across party lines have been making a beeline to the house of slain Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) worker Praveen Nettaru whose murder has sent political tremors across the state.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shobha Karandlaje who visited the family of Nettaru on Sunday donated a month's salary along with an additional Rs 5 lakh to the bereaved family.

After meeting the family, Karandlaje addressed the media and said the murder has taken place in the Kerala model, and Popular Front of India (PFI) workers have conducted many such murders in Kerala. "There is information that they receive training for such murders in Syria and Pakistan and carry out these acts in India," she added, as reported by One India.

She said the murder of Hindu karyakartas like Rudresh in Bengaluru and Sharath Madiwala in Mangaluru too were conducted in a similar fashion, where they were attacked from behind.

Speaking about banning PFI, Karandlaje said the government is working on obtaining the required information. "SIMI could be banned legally only after large scale information had been procured about it. So, if we have to ban PFI, we need to gather sufficient information about it in a legally prescribed format. This is also why the murder case of Harsha was handed over to the NIA. Our government is involved in obtaining the information. This organisation should then be banned and in a way that it stands in court. Our central government is working in this direction," she explained, as quoted.

Opposition leaders, meanwhile, have been making political statements by visiting the house of two other young Muslim men who were each murdered before and after Nettaru, one in Sullia and the other in Surathkal respectively. They are offering condolences and 'equal amounts' to all families. State Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who was until now being criticised for only 'selectively' visiting the Hindu household, is said to soon visit the other two also.