Abdul Basheer dies in Mangaluru; police says he was chosen as random target in revenge of Bajrang Dal activist's killing

Abdul Basheer, who was attacked as “retaliation” for the murder of Bajarang Dal activist and BJP worker Deepak Rao , succumbed to injuries at a private hospital in Mangaluru, Basheer’s cousin Hakeem confirmed. [caption id=“attachment_4291399” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Four persons were arrested by the Mangaluru City Police on Thursday for the murder of Deepak Rao. Twitter@compolmlr[/caption] According to the New Indian Express, Hakeem said that the 47-year-old died at 8.10 am on Sunday. The report adds that the accused in the attack, who were later arrested, claimed to be associated with a right-wing Hindu outfit. The Times of India reports that four persons attacked Basheer, a hotelier, to “avenge” the death of Deepak Rao. Hours after Rao was attacked on 3 January, the miscreants attacked Basheer on his way home after closing his eatery at Kottara Chowki. Basheer’s family members decided not to take out a funeral procession and opted to bury him in the premises of a local mosque. Close relatives were allowed to visit Basheer’s home to view the body and the public to pay last respects during the funeral at the mosque, police said. Additional DGP (Law and Order) Kamal Pant visited the hospital where Basheer died. ANI reports that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the family of Basheer. Mangaluru City police chief TR Suresh announced the arrests on Saturday named the accused as Shrijith PK (25) and Sandesh Kotyan (21) of Uppala, Manjeshwar in Kasaragod district and two brothers — Dhanush Poojary (22) and Kishan Poojary (21) of Padil, Mangaluru. The four friends had allegedly congregated for a religious event at Kankanady Garodi and decided to avenge Rao’s death by “targeting a person from the other community” and they chose Basheer as a random target, Suresh said. Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police SK Reddy said that the accused in Rao’s murder were also arrested. They were arrested while trying to escape in a car after attacking Rao when they were chased and nabbed on the outskirts of Suratkal, Reddy said. The four arrested were identified as Mulky Naushad, Rizwan, Pinky Nawaz and Nirshan. Security was stepped up and additional forces were deployed in the town to prevent any untoward incident during the funeral procession and last rites of Rao on Thursday. A day-long shutdown was also observed at Mangaluru and Surathkal in protest against Rao’s murder in response to a call by the BJP and Bajrang Dal. Regarding the attacks, the BJP has been accusing the Congress of adopting “a soft approach” towards “jihadi forces”, a charge dismissed by the Siddaramaiah government, which has accused the saffron party of trying to polarise the situation. With inputs from agencies