My daughter was 'forced' to convert, Karnataka Police behaving like a 'puppet�: Neha's father

Hubballi, (Karnataka) April 22 (IANS) Niranjan Hiremath, father of Neha Hiremath, on Monday claimed that his daughter was forced to convert and that the Karnataka Police is behaving like a puppet of the state government.

“The Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar is acting like a puppet. It has been four days since my daughter was killed. We lodged a complaint on that very day and post mortem was done. However, no action has been taken as of yet. Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar who had come to visit us had called the Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar to our residence and instructed her to take action,” Niranjan said while talking to media persons.

Niranjan, who is also a Congress Corporator, alleged that despite the orders from a minister, Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar has not taken any action yet.

“They (Police and Police Commissioner) only say ‘we are with you’ and say ‘don’t worry’ but they take no action. They haven’t even bothered to take information from us,” he alleged.

He said that in the last four days, he has given all names of the accused in the case but no one is listening to him.

“It is not possible to commit such a brutal murder by one person. He (accused) comes from a place located 100 kilometres away and in broad daylight, he committed the crime on the college campus. This was done after proper planning. It is impossible to commit such a crime single-handedly,” he claimed.

He said that right outside the gate till inside the campus, there were informers informing the accused about Neha’s movement. “The students, batch mates inside and outsiders passed on the information and ensured that Neha is murdered,” he said.

He added that police should investigate Neha’s call details but they have not yet done so.

On alleged conversion, Niranjan said that the accused had tried to convert Neha for at least two years which she always resisted.

“After knowing about intentions of conversion, Neha distanced herself from the accused and opposed him. She then stopped responding to the accused. I have checked Neha all messages myself. What more evidence do they want? We know that there was an attempt to get her converted,” Niranjan said.

He alleged that wrong information is being fed to the State Home Minister and Chief Minister about the case.

“The Police Commissioner should be transferred immediately and hand over the case to the Special Wing of CID. I have requested BJP President J.P. Nadda to hand over the case to the CBI,” he said.

Niranjan said that he suspects that he would be harmed as he is making statements against the government. “The Chief Minister and state Home Minister should provide us with the police protection,” he said.

Neha Hiremath, MCA student, was stabbed to death by Fayaz Kondikoppa at the college campus in Hubballi. The accused was caught and handed over to the police by students.

State Home Minister G. Parameshwara said that the accused and the deceased were in love while the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that it was not a case of love jihad.

Niranjan Hiremath has maintained that the victim’s family would commit suicide if the state government tinkers with the investigation.