Bangalore:
Nearly 10 days after a 24-year-old man was found on a railway track in Karnataka’s Belagavi district, police today claimed that the victim was murdered over an inter-religious love affair.
At least 10 people, including a right-wing leader, have been arrested for their involvement in the crime, police said. Police officials said that right-wing leader Maharaj Pundalika had taken money from the girl’s family for the murder of the victim.
He said the body was thrown on the tracks to mislead the police.
Senior police officer Laxman Nimbargi told NDTV, “Maharaj Pundalika Shriram Sena is a prominent leader of Hindustan.”
The victim Arbaaz was found on the railway track on September 28, following which a case of unnatural death was registered by the Railway Police.
The post-mortem of the body revealed that she had been murdered and then kept on the railway track.
Arbaaz’s family alleged that he was murdered because of their inter-religious love affair, following which the case was later transferred to the Belagavi Police.
A senior police officer said, “During investigation, we found that the girl’s parents had opposed the relationship. They had given money to Maharaj Punadalika to kill Arbaaz.”
Arbaaz’s mother Najima Mohammad Sheikh had lodged a complaint that the girl’s family members were threatening Arbaaz. Najima told the police that fearing her son’s safety, she shifted to Belagavi town, about 31 km from Khanapur, where they lived earlier.
Najima claimed that on September 26, the girl’s family called Arbaaz and her to Khanapur, where they were asked to end the relationship citing religious differences. He alleged that during the meeting, the girl’s family allegedly snatched Arbaaz’s mobile and deleted the pictures and destroyed the SIM card and threatened him.
Two days later, the girl’s father and Maharaj called Arbaaz back and killed him, police officials said.
He said that they threw the body on the railway track to destroy the evidence. “The body was thrown on the tracks to make it look like an accident or suicide,” a police officer said.
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