NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya is facing a police case for falsely claiming a farmer's suicide was linked to land claims by the Waqf board. The FIR was registered on Thursday at the Haveri Police station in Karnataka.
Surya, in a now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), had alleged that farmer Rudrappa Channappa Balikai took his life after discovering his land was "taken over by Waqf."
He further blamed Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan for "unleashing catastrophic effects in Karnataka."
The police, however, refuted Surya's claim.
In a statement, the Superintendent of Police in Haveri clarified, “The news shared is false. No such incident reported. The farmer mentioned here, Rudrappa Channappa Balikai suicide case was reported on 06/01/2022 and it was reported to be due to loan and crop loss. Case was registered u/s 174 CrPC in Adur PS. Final report was already submitted.”
Following the police statement, Surya deleted his post and stated he would no longer rely on the unnamed news source he had cited.
The incident comes amid escalating tensions over Waqf land and properties in Karnataka. The BJP has been alleging irregular land allocations to the Waqf board, while chief minister Siddaramaiah has ordered a halt to related notices issued to farmers.
(With inputs from agencies)
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