Karnataka College Neha Murder Case: Two Arrested For 'Neha-Fayaz True Love' Online Post

Two men were arrested by police on Saturday for posting online content alleging that Neha Hiremath, daughter of a Karnataka Congress Corporator, was in a relationship with Fayaz Khondunaik, who later killed her.

Neha Hiremath, the daughter of Congress Councillor Niranjan Hiremath of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, was fatally stabbed on April 18 at BVB College.

Photo Credit: OneIndia Kannada

Karnataka College Neha Murder Case

CCTV footage captured Fayaz stabbing the 23-year-old multiple times before fleeing, after which he was apprehended by the police. Following the incident, public outrage ensued, leading to protests in Hubballi, Dharwad, and other locations. Neha, a first-year MCA student, was reportedly in a relationship with Fayaz, her former classmate, as reported by India Today.

A complaint was filed by a few Hindu activists, alleging that the two men had posted online content asserting that Neha and Fayaz were romantically involved. Pictures of Neha and Fayaz were purportedly uploaded with the caption, "Neha Fayaz true love, justice for love."

In response, Bajrang Dal organized a protest in front of Dharwad Police Station on Saturday night against the dissemination of these photos. Social worker Santosh Poojary demanded that the two men responsible for posting the photos be banished from the city and face strict legal consequences, as reported by India Today.

Neha's father, Niranjan Hiremath, had previously stated that his daughter and the accused were just friends and not lovers. He also disclosed that Neha had rejected Fayaz's proposals and warned him that she would file a complaint if his advances persisted. However, Fayaz's mother, Mumtaz, contradicted this claim by asserting that Neha and Fayaz were indeed in a romantic relationship, and she had been aware of it since the previous year.

This incident has sparked a political dispute between the opposition BJP and the ruling Congress, with allegations of a 'love jihad' angle being raised. The BJP criticized the Congress government for its alleged leniency towards anti-social elements, blaming this leniency for the tragic outcome of this incident, while the ruling Congress attempted to portray it as a matter with purely personal motives, as per media reports.