Neha Hiremath murder: 2 arrested for online post about murder of Karnataka Congress leader’s daughter in Hubballi

Police arrested two men on Saturday for posting content online. They alleged that Neha Hiremath, daughter of Karnataka Congress Corporator, was in a relationship with Fayaz Khondunaik, who murdered her.

Neha Hiremath (23), daughter of Congress councilor of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation Niranjan Hiremath, was stabbed to death on the campus of BVB College on April 18. CCTV footage showed Fayaz stabbing Neha multiple times before fleeing the spot. He was later arrested by the police.

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The incident quickly sparked public outrage with protests in Hubballi and Dharwad, among others.

Neha was a first year MCA student and Fayaz was her former classmate.

A few Hindu activists filed a complaint alleging that the two men had posted content on their social media claiming that Neha and Fayaz were in a relationship.

They allegedly uploaded photos of Neha and Fayaz with the caption “Neha Fayaz true love, justice for love”.

Bajrang Dal held a protest in front of Dharwad police station on Saturday evening against the photos uploaded online. Santosh Poojary, a social worker, said the two men who posted the photos should be banned from the city and strict action should be taken against them.

Neha’s father Niranjan Hiremath had earlier said that she was just friends with the suspect and the two were “not lovers”. He also said that his daughter had rejected the perpetrator’s proposals and warned him that she would file a complaint if he did not stop.

But in complete contradiction, Fayaz’s mother Mumtaz said that the two were in love with each other and that she had known about it since last year.

The incident has also led to a sparring match between the opposition BJP and the ruling Congress over a ‘love jihad’ angle in the case.

The BJP accused the Congress government of being soft on anti-social elements, which resulted in this incident as the ruling party tried to portray it as an incident with a personal angle.

(With inputs from PTI)