Mangaluru: General secretary of the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) C.T. Ravi said here on Wednesday that the murder of right-wing activist Deepak Rao in Katipalla, near Surathkal, on Wednesday is not an isolated incident.

Addressing presspersons, he said that it was part of a planned conspiracy to curtail the voice of Hindus in the State. He held the ruling Congress responsible for it.

Mr. Ravi said that since the Congress came to power in the State, more than 24 Hindu activists have been murdered.

The BJP leader said that the Congress was hand-in-glove with some Muslim extremist groups for gaining votes. The Congress was following “soft Taliban policy” and had entered into an internal agreement with such forces to protect its vote bank, he said.

Mr. Ravi said that the Congress government on June 1, 2015 withdrew 175 cases against about 1,000 activists of the KFD and PFI. Some of the cases were serious in nature.

He wanted to know on which grounds these cases were withdrawn.

Meawhile, U.T. Khader, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, and B.A. Mohiuddin Bava, MLA, Mangaluru City North, condemned the murder of Deepak Rao.

Mr. Khader said that it was an act by those who did not want peace. He congratulated the police for taking into custody four persons immediately after the murder.

Mr. Bava appealed to the people of his constituency to maintain peace.