‘He should be punished’: Father of Karnataka murder accused

Hubballi, Karnataka: The father of the 23-year-old man, who killed a college student inside a college campus in Hubballi, apologised to the victim's family and said his son should be given strict punishment.

Baba Saheb Subani, a school teacher and father of the accused Fayaz, told media on Saturday that he came to know about the incident around 6 pm on Thursday and was completely shocked and shattered with his son's act.

"He (Fayaz) should be punished in a way that no one dares to do such a thing in future. With folded hands, I apologise to Neha's family members. She was like my daughter," he said with teary eyes.

Subani said that he and his wife have been living separately for the past six years and that Fayaz stayed with his mother and called him whenever he needed money. He last spoke to his son about three months ago.

Fayaz's father recalled that around eight months ago, Neha Hiremath's family had called him to inform that his son was troubling their daughter. Admitting that his son made a mistake, he said that Fayaz and Neha loved each other and were in a relationship.

"Fayaz told me he wanted to marry her but I refused it by folding my hands," he added.

Condemning his son's act, Fayaz's father said that no one should commit any such atrocities against women. "I request the people of Karnataka to forgive me. My son has done wrong. He will be punished by the law of the land and I welcome it. My town has got a black mark because of my son. People of Munavalli (Fayaz's hometown) please forgive me. You raised us. Please forgive me," he cried with folded hands.

However, the victim's family has been demanding that the accused be hanged to death and only then will their daughter's soul rest in peace. They maintained that their daughter was not in a relationship with Fayaz and said the accused stabbed Neha because she rejected his proposal.

There were protests in several parts of the state demanding capital punishment for Fayaz, who has been arrested in connection with the incident that occurred on April 18.

The alleged murder of the daughter of the city corporation councillor on her college campus has sparked widespread condemnation and protests.

The issue has snowballed into a political slugfest between the ruling Congress and opposition BJP in Karnataka. While the ruling party has tried to project it as an "incident with a personal angle", the saffron party suspects "love jihad" and said that it points to the "deterioration of law and order" in the state.

Neha was allegedly stabbed to death on the campus of BVB College on Thursday.

The accused Fayaz Khondunaik, who fled the scene, was arrested by police subsequently.

Neha was a first-year MCA student and Fayaz was her former classmate.

According to a senior police officer, Fayaz allegedly stabbed her multiple times. During interrogation, he claimed that the two had been in a relationship but she had been avoiding him of late.

"It needs to be corroborated and verified, but he was arrested immediately," the officer said.

PTI with edits