Udupi: In relation to the Kota double murder case, the victim’s family members have demanded the arrest of BJP Zilla Panchayat member Raghavendra Kanchan whose bail was recently cancelled by the Supreme Court of India.

Addressing a press meet at the Udupi Press Club here on Monday, February 3, one of the victim’s brother Hemanth said that since the Supreme Court cancelled the bail granted to murder accused BJP Zilla Panchayat member Raghavendra Kanchan on January 20, the police department is not showing any interest in arresting Kanchan. “It is suspected that Raghavendra Kanchan has not been arrested due to strong political pressure exerted on the police. If the police fail to arrest Kanchan within three days, we will stage a hunger strike in front of the Superintendent of Police’s office at Bannanje”, he said.

It can be recalled that Bharat, along with his friend Yathish, was murdered on January 26, 2019, at around 10 pm. Soon after the incident, District Superintendent of Police Laxman Nimbargi arrested 16 suspects in the double murder case. However, a few of the accused procured bail from the court and were released. One of them was Raghavendra Kanchan.

Hemanth said that Kanchan has not been arrested by police in spite of providing all the necessary documents to the SP. “Kanchan has not been arrested so far due to pressure from a local Kundapur politician. This politician is also trying to transfer Kota Police Station Sub-Inspector who carried out the murder investigation,” he said.

Hemanth further said “My family lives in acute poverty. With the help of some organisations and individuals, we succeeded in moving the Supreme Court. Advocate Kotthadi Chandrashekar Shetty from Kundapur, as well as Bengaluru-based lawyers Chandrashekar Patil and his wife Rekha Chandrashekar Shetty, argued for us in the Supreme Court.”

Hemanth said that Bharath’s mother Parvathi had appealed to the Supreme Court to cancel the bail of Raghavendra Kanchan, which was earlier granted by the Karnataka High Court. “The family members have submitted all the court-order documents to the SP. However, the police are still not able to arrest the accused Kanchan. If the police department does not arrest him within three days, then the family members will go on a hunger strike in front of the SP office”, he said.

Murder victim Bharath’s mother Parvathi, Yathish’s brother Manoj, family members Annappa, Malini, and others were present during the press meet.