Karnataka becoming safe haven for communal elements, criminals: Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar claimed on Wednesday that Karnataka is becoming a "safe haven" for communal elements and criminals as he hit out at the Congress government in the southern state over the killing of a Jain monk in Belagavi district.

The Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka also claimed that the state police swung into action in the matter only after repeated protests by the BJP.

"It is shocking that Karnataka under Rahul Gandhi's Congress government has in a few months become a safe haven for communal elements and criminals. The brutal murder of the Jain monk is shocking," Chandrasekhar said.

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Claiming that the state police swung into action only after repeated protests staged by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said it is shocking and questions should be asked as to what is happening in Karnataka where law and order was restored under the previous government of the saffron party.

Citing several recent incidents of crime, Chandrasekhar said it is like "rampant unleashing of vested interests because they must be feeling that Karnataka is a safe haven as long as the target are these people who are associated with a particular religion or faith".

It is sad to see that the state is becoming a "centre of such brutal and violent crimes", he alleged.

Jain monk Acharya Sri Kamakumara Nandi Maharaj, who was heading a monastery at Hirekodi in Chikkodi taluk of Belagavi, was chopped into pieces and his dismembered body parts were dumped in a defunct borewell.

Two men -- Narayana Basappa Madi and Hassan Dalayath -- have been arrested in the case. Police suspect that money-related matters were behind the killing.

Opposition BJP legislators staged a sit-in on Wednesday near the Gandhi statue in the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the \RKarnataka legislature in Bengaluru, against the brutal killing of the Jain monk.