Bengaluru, Aug 12: A 32-year-old cow vigilante has been booked under the stringent Karnataka Goonda Act for allegedly extorting money from cow slaughterers and cattle transporters, and subsequently arrested by the Central Crime Branch, police said.
Puneeth Kerehalli, a resident of Bengaluru and native of Hassan district, was booked and arrested late on Friday night.
According to police, there are 10 cases registered against him in various police stations in the state.
In its order to book him under the Goonda Act, police said: 'This person has repeatedly been involved in criminal activities with the objective of extortion in the name of 'Rashtra Rakshana Pade' (Nation Protection Force).'
'He used to target cow slaughters/transporters threatening business people, thereby committing breach of peace and communal harmony, thus adversely affecting peace and public order,' police said.
Kerehalli was most recently accused in the case of the death of cattle transporter Idrees Pasha, who was allegedly stopped and attacked in the Ramanagara region bordering Bengaluru by Kerehalli and his associates on the intervening night of March 31 and April 1.
A preliminary probe revealed that Pasha died due to cardiac arrest but the police suspect that the accused may have used a stun gun to neutralise Pasha which might have led to a cardiac arrest. Kerehalli was granted bail by the Karnataka high court in May based on an autopsy report that suggested a heart attack death.
In a second case involving cow vigilantism, Kerehalli is accused of stopping transporter Aleemulla Baig with accusations of illegal cattle transport in the Electronic City police limits of Bengaluru on March 20, 2023. A case was filed by the victim after Pasha’s death. Kerehalli and his associates allegedly beat up Baig and the driver and used a stun gun to administer electric shocks.
A third case cited by the Bengaluru police to declare Kerehalli a rowdy is an August 2021 case registered by the Begur police over efforts to install a religious statue at the Begur Lake despite a high court order for the preservation of the lake.
The Bengaluru police have also cited two other cases: an SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation case at Chamarajpet in December 2022, and a January 2022 case filed by a police official at the Hampi Tourism police station against Kerehalli and nine others for violation of Covid norms.
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