Niranjan Hiremath, the father of deceased Neha Hiremath, who was stabbed to death by her former classmate Fayaz last week in Hubbali, has stated to media that his daughter was forced to convert her religion, and she refused. As per reports, Congress leader Niranjan Hiremath told before media that Fayaz killed Neha because she had refused to convert to Islam.
“They were forcing her to convert. Since she didn’t agree to religious conversion, she was murdered,” Niranjan Hiremath, the Congress Councillor from Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC), said
Niranjan Hiremath had told earlier also that the murder of his daughter is a case of ‘love jihad’. Hiremath had also accused the state government led by Siddaramaiah of trying to pass the case off as an incident of ‘personal enmity’ because that tends to ignore the religious motive behind the crime.
Hiremath added that Neha was religiously inclined and was actively involved in the social events of their community. Dismissing the claims Neha was in a romantic relationship with Fayaz, Niranjan asserted that Neha was very active in college events and that is why there are many photographs of Neha and Fayaz circulating online. Additionally, Neha was an ambitious girl who went for higher education, unlike Fayaz, who was a dropout.
Neha had already rejected advances by Fayaz and told him flat that she was not interested in pursuing a relationship with him, as per Neha’s family. Asserting again that Neha’s murder was a case of love jihad, Hiremath stated that Fayaz was trained by a group to target non-Muslim girls. The group had provided boarding and other facilities to Fayaz. He added that he has given the names of 4 other persons to the police who were involved in this activity of targeting and stalking girls from certain families.
‘Fayaz did proper planning, more people are involved. This is a planned murder’: Neha’s father
Speaking to the media, Niranjan Hiremath added that Fayaz comes from a place 100 km away from the place of murder. “It is impossible that he did it all alone. He had engaged many ‘informers’ in the college to get information on Neha’s movements, from outside the college gate to inside the campus. Some students and batchmates outside the campus were involved. They were all passing information about Neha’s whereabouts and movements to Fayaz, Hiremath added.
On April 21, speaking to media, Niranjan Hiremath demanded a CBI inquiry if the Karnataka police are unable to take necessary action to nab all the culprits.
On April 22, the state government handed over the investigation into the Neha Hiremath murder case to the CID. Speaking to the media after the development, Neha’s father thanked the state government and everyone who has stood up with the family demanding justice for Neha.
Neha Hiremath was stabbed to death on 18th April by Fayaz at B V Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology in Hubbali where the two were studying and the entire incident was captured on camera. She was rejecting his overtures to get into a relationship, despite his persistent pestering. He killed her because he was reportedly dismayed and angry after he had been pursuing and stalking her for several months.
