While speaking at Bajrang Dal’s Shaurya Yathre event in Karnataka’s Tumakuru on Saturday, 28 January, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sharan Pumpwell made several controversial statements regarding 2002 Gujarat riots and the murder of a Muslim youth Mohammad Fasil at Surathkal in Karnataka.
What did the VHP leader say: Pumpwell said, “Remember the Gujarat incident, when 59 kar sevaks were returning from Ayodhya and their compartments were burnt? Also, remember the answer given by the people of Gujarat. None of the Hindus sat at home with their hands tied. They all got down to the streets. They entered each house. Fifty-nine kar sevaks were killed, but the count of the number of people who were killed as revenge is still not available. It is estimated that around 2,000 people were killed. This is the bravery of Hindus,” The Indian Express reported.
On retaliatory murder: A resident of Mangalapete in Katipalla in Surathkal, Mohammed Fasil was killed in broad daylight in front of a shop in Surathkal on 28 July 2022. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the murder case and a chargesheet has been submitted to the court. His murder had come just two days after the killing of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Praveen Nettaru.
Referring to the murder of the 23-year-old, Pumpwell said: “In order to respond to the murder of BJP leader Praveen Nettaru, youths in Surathkal killed him; not in an isolated place but in an open market. This is the power of Hindu youths.”
Mohammed Fasil’s father urges police to arrest VHP leader: After Pumpwell’s claim, Mohammed Fasil’s father Ummar Farooq urged the Commissioner of Police N Shashi Kumar to arrest the former, immediately. In a memorandum submitted to the Commissioner of Police in Mangaluru on Monday, 30 January, Farooq said, “Sharan Pumpwell has more information on the death of my son. Hence, he should be arrested immediately."
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