Mob lynching in Mangaluru: Inspector, two constables suspended for negligence

Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal announced that the police had invoked the provision of ‘mob lynching’ under Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita on April 29, 2025.
| Photo Credit: H S MANJUNATH

Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal has suspended three policemen for alleged negligence in not reporting immediately to senior police officers about the mob lynching at the venue of a cricket match near Kudupu, in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, on April 27.

Mangaluru Rural Police Inspector K.R. Shivakumar, Head Constable P. Chandra and Constable Yellalinga have been suspended. Mr. Chandra is in the special branch of the Mangaluru Rural Police Station while Mr. Yellalinga is a constable in the same police station. Mr. Yellalinga’s beat includes the place where 35-year-old Ashraf was lynched to death by around 25 persons.

In the order dated May 1, Mr. Agrawal said questioning of the arrested persons and other people on April 29 revealed that soon after the mob lynching by cricketers and spectators, a man named Deepak alerted the police. The police asked the caller to dial 112 and give the information.

Despite having prior information about mob lynching, Mr. Shivakumar did not inform senior police officers who visited the spot on April 27. The inspector then made use of the persons, who are accused of lynching, as complainant and witnesses to register a case of unnatural death. Subsequently, a case of mob lynching was registered.

Mr. Agrawal has made a similar observation in the orders passed against Mr. Chandra and Mr. Yellalinga.

The ground at Kudupu, near Mangaluru, where 35-year-old Ashraf, a native of Wayanad in Kerala, was assaulted by a mob of 25 persons on April 27, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
H S MANJUNATH

The trio have been suspended pending initiation of disciplinary proceedings by the department. They have been instructed not to leave the headquarters without permission from seniors.

The action by Mr. Agrawal follows criticism by district In-charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, district Congress chief K. Harish Kumar and district secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Muneer Katipalla over the delay on the part of police in taking note of the mob lynching incident.

The police have so far arrested 20 of the 25 persons allegedly involved in the deadly assault.

Demand for SIT probe

Senior Congress leader and former home minister B. Ramanath Rai told reporters on May, “The State Government has to take serious note of the incident and set up a Special Investigation Team. In the past, this region has seen revenge killings. People have been targeted for the murder of persons belonging to another community. Such revenge killings can occur for this mob lynching incident too. This has to be prevented.”

Mr. Rai said he will shortly lead a delegation of Congress activists to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and appraise him of the seriousness of the situation in Dakshina Kannada district.