Hindu activist & cow vigilante booked under Goonda Act arrested in B’luru

Bengaluru: The Karnataka police department has booked Puneeth a.k.a Puneeth Kerehalli, a Hindu activist, under the Goonda Act and arrested him, police said on Saturday.

Puneeth, a cow vigilante, was arrested recently in connection with a case of beating a man belonging to a minority community to death for transporting the cow.

The investigations showed that the victim had transported cows legally. He was released on bail later in the case.

Police explain that he was involved in 10 police cases between 2013 to 2023.

The accused was repeatedly involved in an attempt to disturb peace in society, anti-social activities following which he was booked under criminal cases. The special wing CCB police took him into custody on Friday.

The cases are registered against him in D.J. Halli, Beguru, Kaggalipura, Halasurugate, Chamarajpet, Electronic City, Malavalli and Sathanur police station limits.

The accused arrested under the Goonda Act will not get bail for a period of one year. The police need not produce the accused before the judge within 24 hours of the arrest and there is no requirement to follow the procedure to get him into the police custody.

The police stated that Puneet, a native of Hassan has repeatedly been involved in criminal cases with the objective of extortion in the name Rashtra Raksha Pade. He used to target cow slaughters transporters threatening the business people there by committing a bridge of peace and coming in harmony, this adversely affecting peace and public order.

In order to prevent him from anti-social activities, a detention order was issued on Aug 11, under the Karnataka Goonda Act and the CCB police have secured him on August 11.