B'luru violence: Srinivasamurthy requests Cong to expel Sampath Raj after he was named as accused

Bengaluru: MLA A Srinivasamurthy has requested Congress leaders to expel a party leader Sampath Raj after the Central Crime Branch named him as one of the main accused in Bengaluru violence that erupted on August 11.

Srinivasamurthy said, “I request party leaders to expel Sampath Raj from the party for causing the violence. Probe is going in the right direction. The culprit must be punished.”

He said there is no benefit in creating violence; he could have talked to party leaders if he had any issue.

“Today I am living in another house, not in my constituency. What is the benefit of committing violence? What profit is there in keeping rivalry? He could have talked to leaders like DK Shivakumar if he had issues, I was trying to work for the constituency together and he was like a brother but I did not know that’s what he was planning” Srinivasamurthy was quoted speaking to ANI.

The Central Crime Branch, probing the violence here over an ‘inflammatory’ social media post, has named former Mayor and sitting Congress corporator R Sampath Raj as one of the accused in the case, police said on Tuesday.

“He (Sampath Raj) has been named as one of the accused in the DJ Halli and KG Halli violence,” a top police officer investigating the case told.

According to the official, he was amongst those who had information about the violence and did not share it with the police. Police had twice questioned him for several hours along with Pulakeshinagar Congress corporator Abdul Rakeeb Zakir, but have not arrested them yet.

It is not known whether Zakir is also an accused in the case. Sampath Raj’s personal assistant Arun Kumar was arrested earlier for allegedly remaining in touch with the ring leaders of the Bengaluru violence.