Three arrested for pro-Pak slogans in Karnataka assembly corridors

Three people have been arrested for allegedly raising 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans in the Vidhana Soudha corridors on February 27, the police said on Monday.

Supporters of Congress leader Syed Naseer Hussain allegedly shouted pro-Pakistan slogans after his victory in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ordered an investigation by government-run Forensic Science Laboratory to check the veracity of the allegations.

Based on the FSL report, the police arrested three persons.

The police sources said one of the accused hails from RT Nagar in Bengaluru, the second one from Byadagi in Haveri district and the third accused is from Delhi.

The accused from Byadagi is said to be a chilli merchant.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party posted on its social media handle an investigation report prepared by private laboratory Clue4 Evidence Forensic Investigations and signed by audio forensic examiner Phaneendar BN on behalf of city-based 'Samvada Foundation', a not-for-profit organisation allegedly linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

In his opinion, Phaneendar said the examined video of the incident is "not tampered/doctored in between and is a result of single capture."

The inference drawn by him is: "To the limited extent of the question in this case, being whether if it was Nasir (sic) Saab Zindabad' or 'Pakistan Zindabad', the above analysis indicates that it is highly probable to be 'Pakistan Zindabad'."

State home minister G Parameshwara sought to know whether the private person who prepared the report had his own laboratory and had done the analysis.

"We will find out with whose permission they are doing it, who gave him 'No Objection Certificate' and is he authorised to make such reports public," the home minister said.

He said the report of the state government's own FSL would be made public once it is submitted.

"If the report says that such a slogan was raised, then we will take action immediately. There is no question of hiding it, as alleged by the BJP."

Slamming the Congress for its alleged "lies", the BJP said the private lab's report has revealed that the creators of fake news are Congressmen who spread lies by distorting the truth. On social media platform, the party labelled Minister Priyank Kharge the "head of the anti-national @INCKarnataka and fake news factory", and said he should apologise to Kannadigas.

IT-BT minister Priyank Kharge said this was not an ordinary case because it is claimed that an 'anti-national' slogan was shouted.

Responding to the BJP's allegations, he said, "the government should have answered, but the BJP getting the forensic report from a private institution and making it public is an anti-national act."

He sought to know the credibility of the Clue4 Evidence Forensic Investigation.

"Let them do it privately. I don't know whether they are trained by the government and hold a certificate. Even if they have, such sensitive matters should have been brought to the notice of the police and the government," Kharge said.

The minister wondered whether the private forensic lab got the raw footage or downloaded it from the internet.

"If it got the raw footage, then who supplied them? How is Samvada Foundation interested? Who are they? It is a Bhajan singing organisation of RSS," he asked.

Kharge claimed that when he gave the footage to a private organisation for audio forensics, he got a negative report but did not make it public.

Meanwhile, Congress Spokesperson and party's Chief Media Coordinator A N Nataraj Gowda on Monday lodged a complaint against BJP state President BY Vijayendra and the BJP Karnataka unit's IT cell chief for posting a "fake forensic report" on social media.

The complaint was filed at the Cyber, Economic and Narcotics crime police station in the Bengaluru West division.