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Mangaluru's Fazil Murder Case Doesn't Have Shia- Sunni Angle
Karnataka, 3 Aug 2022 11:42 AM GMT
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The claim made by OpIndia about the Shia-Sunni angle in Fazil's murder case is false. Mangaluru police arrested six accused in this case and all of them belong to the Hindu community. The accused were identified as Suhas Shetty, Mohan, Giridhar, Abhishek, Srinivas, and Deekshith.
On 28th July, a Muslim man identified as Mohammed Fazil, a resident of Mangalpete near Surathkal, Mangaluru, was hacked to death by four assailants. The attackers came in a car and attacked Fazil with lethal weapons outside a cloth store. After the murder, section 144 was imposed by the Police in Surathkal. This comes two days after a BJP Yuva Morcha worker Praveen Nettaru was murdered in Karnataka.
On 29 July, Right Wing media outlet OpIndia reported this story by giving this murder a Shia-Sunni angle. The report's title reads, "Karnataka: Section 144 imposed after the murder of one Mohammed Fazil, reports indicate the motive being Sunni Fazil loving a Shia girl." OpIndia, in their report, mentioned that preliminary investigations led by the Police revealed that the deceased was murdered because he was in love with a Shia woman, whereas Mohammed Fazil practised Sunni Islam. They also quoted Deccan Herald for the same.
Many Twitter users tweeted the same quoting OpIndia report. A Twitter user wrote, "Mohamad fazil was killed by own Muslim. Shia Muslims killed a Sunni Muslim for having love affair with sister of a Shia Muslim."
Another user wrote, "Initial reports make some ground that attack took place due to love affair boy was sunni and girl was from Shia Islam. So why making customized narrative on your own."
This claim is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.
Claim:
Maohammed Fazil was killed because he was in love with a Shia woman, whereas Mohammed Fazil practised Sunni Islam.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact check team verified the claim and found it to be false. No Shia-Sunni angle was involved in it. Also, the attacker belongs to the Hindu community.
During the initial investigation, we did a Google keyword search to verify the viral claim and found several media reports which mentioned about Fazil's murder case. According to a report of The News Minute dated 02 August 2022, Mangaluru Police arrested six people in Fazil's murder case. Shashi Kumar, Mangaluru police commissioner, said that the six people arrested in this case were identified as Suhas Shetty (29), Mohan (26), Giridhar (23), Abhishek (21), Srinivas (23), and Deekshith (21). The names of the accused suggest that they were from the Hindu community. Mangaluru police also arrested Ajith Crasta, the owner of the car used in the murder.
According to a report of The Times Of India dated 02 August 2022, City police commissioner N Shashi Kumar told media that all the accused have been involved in several crimes in the past. Preliminary investigation reveals that the accused were planning to kill Fazil since 26 July. The accused made a list of roughly seven people, but ultimately opted to kill Faizal after keeping a close eye on him on the day of the incident.
Kiran Parasar, a journalist at The Indian Express also shared the image of the accused arrested in Fazil's murder case. Below you can see the tweet.
Many other media outlets like The Indian Express, and The Quint also reported the same. According to a report of The Quint dated 02 August, Suhas Shetty, the man who coordinated the attack on Fazil, has four prior cases against him. He was a frequent visitor to events organised by the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is to be noted that none of the media reports mentioned about any Shia-Sunni or love angle in this case.
After the Mangaluru police commissioner revealed the names of the accused, OpIndia published a report quoting Mangaluru police ruling out any Shia-Sunni angle. However, they haven't deleted their previous report nor they issued a public apology for spreading fake news.
Conclusion:
It is evident from our investigation that the claim made by OpIndia about the Shia-Sunni angle in Fazil's murder case is false. Mangaluru police arrested 6 accused in this case and all of them belong to the Hindu community. The accused were identified as Suhas Shetty, Mohan, Giridhar, Abhishek, Srinivas, and Deekshith. Hence, the viral claim is false.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Also Read: Video Of Hindu Man Threatening Girls With Knife Viral With False "Love Jihad" Angle
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