Karnataka: Dalit Strangled To Death By Two Muslim Men In Yadgir Over Petty Issue Of Rotis

A Dalit named Rakesh was strangled to death by Fayaz and Asif on Sunday (21 April) in Karnataka's Yadgir over a petty issue.

A First Information Report (FIR) against the two accused was filed on Monday by the town police under Sections 109, 504 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Also, since Rakesh was a Dalit, Sections 3(1)(r)(s), 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 were also included in the FIR.

The 22-year-old Rakesh had gone to buy roti from Fayaz, who runs a roti kendra in the city's Shantinagar. However, when Fayaz said that he did not have stock, a spat broke.

Fayaz abused Rakesh, in response to which the victim asked the accused why he was running a roti kendra when he could not provide rotis. The Hindu reported.

While Rakesh returned to his house in Hendagara Agasi after the spat, Fayaz and Asif followed him to his house and hit him, subsequently strangling him to death.

The case emerged when two other communal cases have heated up Karnataka's landscape. One is the killing of Neha Hiremath by Fayaz Khondunaik in Hubbali.

Another is of a 28-year-old married woman in Belagavi accusing Rafik of raping her in front of his wife and manipulating her to convert from Hinduism to Islam.