Pune techie murder: Congress minister seeks ban on controversial outfit Hindu Rashtra Sena

Naseem Khan, a senior Congress minister in Maharashtra, on Saturday demanded a ban on the right-wing organisation Hindu Rashtra Sena whose members allegedly beat a 28-year-old software professional to death in Pune following tension over some images on the Facebook.

"I met Home Minister RR Patil and demanded that the government should ban the organisation," Khan, Minister for Textiles and Minorities Development, told reporters in Mumbai.

Seventeen persons have been arrested so far in connection with the murder of Shaikh Mohasin Sadiq in Bankar Colony in Hadapsar area of Pune on Monday night. Tension had prevailed in the city after reports of some objectionable images of King Shivaji and late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, uploaded on the Facebook by unknown persons, emerged.

"The anti-communal activities have increased after this outfit became active," the Minister charged. Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Eknath Khadse told reporters that "Maharashtra government has sent an initial report on the murder to the central government but the Centre is not satisfied with it.

"The Centre has said that detailed inquiry needs to be done and has informed that no conclusion could be reached based on the report of the state government," Khadse said. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Patil said "we will have to maintain the law and order and take stringent action against those who take law into their hands."