Muslim Cattle Trader Murdered, Told to 'Go to Pakistan'; Cow Vigilantes Booked

The cow vigilantes accused Idrees Pasha of illegally transporting cattle for slaughter.

Cow vigilante Puneeth Kerehalli with the chief of right-wing group Sri Ram Sena, Pramod Muthalik (left). The body of Idrees Pasha (right).

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video Producer: Vishnu Gopinath

Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma

Senior Editor: Aditya Menon

A cattle trader named Idrees Pasha was allegedly murdered by cow vigilantes in Karnataka's Ramanagara district on Saturday, 1 April.

What happened: As per the First Information Report (FIR) accessed by The Quint, Pasha's vehicle carrying cattle was intercepted by cow vigilantes in Sathanur village, near the police station, in the wee hours of Friday night.

The cow vigilantes accused Pasha of illegally transporting cattle for slaughter. Though Pasha said that the cattle were bought from a local market and that he had documents for the same, he was abused by the vigilantes and told to go to Pakistan. He was later chased and assaulted resulting in severe injuries.

What Pasha's family said: When Pasha's family members found his body under mysterious circumstances on Saturday, they protested in front of the Sathanur police station demanding justice.

As per the family, the cow vigilante had demanded Rs two lakh to release the victim or else they would kill him.

Who is the Accused? 

One of the prime suspects in the case has been identified as Puneet Kerehalli, a member of Rashtra Rakshana Pade (National Defense Force).

Kerehalli, along with two more unknown persons, has been booked under sections 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 302 (Punishment for murder), 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

No arrests have been made yet. After the police pacified Pasha's family, the deceased's body was sent for post-mortem.

A visit to Kerehalli's Facebook profile reveals that this is not the first time when such interceptions have been made. The cow vigilante has gone live from Facebook several times before, where he can be seen "rescuing" cattle from vehicles.

Puneeth Kerehalli with BJP MP Tejasvi Surya.

Puneeth Kerehalli with BJP leader Kapil Mishra.

Puneeth Kerehalli with chief of Sri Ram Sene, Pramod Muthalik.

Kerehalli has also put up pictures with with several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders including Minister CN Ashwath Narayan, Minister BC Nagesh, BJP Yuva Morcha national president Tejasvi Surya, BJP MP Pratap Simha, Tamil Nadu state party president Annamalai

Kerehalli has also been photographed with Pramod Muthalik, the chief of right-wing group Sri Ram Sene.