Kill mercilessly: Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy caught on tape giving order over party worker’s death

A massive controversy has erupted in Karnataka after Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy was caught on tape instructing someone to “kill mercilessly” the man behind the murder of a local Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader. A video clip, recorded by local journalists, shows the angry Chief Minister openly issuing a diktat to kill an accused without trial, guaranteed under the Constitution. "He (Prakash) was a good man. I don't know who killed him in this way. Kill the miscreant mercilessly. There would be no issue," Kumaraswamy heard saying in the video clip.

News Nation could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video. However, Kumaraswamy later defended himself saying that it was an “emotional outburst” over the killing of a ruling party worker and not a killing order.

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"It was not an order passed by me as the chief minister. It was due to anger. The suspects are wanted in two other murder cases. They were in jail and now they have killed one more person," he explained.

On Saturday, the 40-year-old JD-S leader was stabbed to death at Benamana Halli near Kala Muddana Doddi. Kumar, who ran a cable TV business, was attacked by three bike-borne armed assailants on Saturday morning.

He was stabbed multiple times by the assailants and succumbed to injuries during treatment at the Government Hospital in Halagur, police said. The police suspect that it was not a political killing but financial or business disputes could have been one of the reasons.

The locals, however, claimed that “cable Kumar”, what people used to call him, was killed in a planned way. The said that the killers followed him on a motorcycle and attacked him knives and iron rods. The local police said that they have registered a case of murder against known assailants and a team has been formed to nab them.

Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s shocking remark, the BJO said that the Karnataka Chief Minister has set the stage for “goonda raj” (hooliganism).

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“CM HD Kumaraswamy sets the stage for goonda raj in the state by ordering to kill over the death of JDS Karyakartha. The culprits should be punished but a CM giving orders for his party workers to go on killing spree shows how cold-blooded Kumaraswamy and his secular party,” BJP Karnataka General secretary Arvind Limbavali tweeted. The tweet was also shared by BJP leader and former state chief minister BS Yeddyurappa.