Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Jan 28: "The police have hoisted false cases against my son, Mithun Kalladka. A conspiracy backed by political motives has been hatched to eliminate him through fake encounter," claimed mother of Mithun, Lalita Poojary, with tears rolling down her eyes. She was addressing a press conference here on Saturday January 27.

Mithun, who is in jail, was recently arrested in connection to the Basheer murder case and the extortion of a bank in the district prison. The police had said Mithun was one of the main conspirators in Basheer murder.

Speaking to the media persons at the Press Club here, Lalita claimed that an effort to enroll her son as a member of Congress party had been undertaken in the past. Although an offer was made to withdraw all cases filed against him and to extend financial assistance in case he agreed to join that party, Mithun had refused this offer, she said. "In the past too the police had registered fake cases against my son and arrested him. Now they are planning to trap him in false cases, brand him as a 'communal goonda' and kill him through fake cncounter," she said.

She pointed out that the false case registered by the police against Mithun had been dismissed by the court and that in the false case registered now by the police, he had secured bail on January 3. "As long as superintendent of police, Sudheer Kumar Reddy, was in the district, politicians could not wield any influence on police officers. As soon as he was transferred, the politically inclined police officers have been planning to make sure that Mithun does not come out of jail. For this very purpose, he was sent to Parappana Agrahara prison at Bengaluru on January 13," he explained.

She said that police had earlier said that a gang of young men who had participated in Kankanady festival had killed Basheer. "Now they have fabricated a story to claim that Mithun, who was inside the jail, had hatched this murder plan," she alleged. Lalita said that if her son faces danger to his life, "Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister, B Ramanath Rai, will be entirely responsible if anything happens to my son. An effort is being made to make her son, who is religiously inclined, a scapegoat on account of differences of opinion the minister has with Dr K Prabhakar Bhat, leader of Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh, on certain matters," she stated.

Mithun's father Narayana Poojary, and brother, Pavan, were present at the press conference.