Mangaluru: Mangaluru North BJP unit president Dr Y Bharath Shetty has filed a defamation suit of Rs 1 crore against JD(S) state president and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy for blaming BJP for the murder of the party worker Deepak Rao at Katipalla in Surathkal.

Briefing media persons here on Tuesday, he said that both the Congress and the JD(S) have been issuing baseless statements after Rao’s murder.

“Being in a responsible position, JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy has issued an immature statement. Mangaluru North MLA Mohiyuddin Bava has also alleged that BJP is involved in the murder. Kumaraswamy has intentionally given the statement to mislead the investigation,” he charged.

On Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s visit to the houses of Rao and Basheer (who died after Rao’s murder), he said that it was politically motivated. When RSS worker Sharath Madiwala’s died, the chief minister neither visited his family nor the hospital. Instead, the hospital authorities were pressured to delay the declaration of his death, he charged.

Shetty said that a total of Rs 43,18,000 has been collected as on Monday through a campaign started by Rao’s friends and BJP, to help the family of his family. Rao was hacked to death on January 3 at Katipalla. The money has been credited to the account of Rao’s mother Premalatha. The account is yet to be linked with Aadhaar and PAN.

Also, measures have been taken to get a PAN card for Premalatha, he added. Bajrang Dal, BJP and VHP activists had sought help for Rao’s family through social media by furnishing details on Premalatha’s account, he said.