- Muslim headmaster Suleman Gorinaik was believed to be the deliberate target of a plot orchestrated by a Hindu extremist leader Sagar Patil, the taluk president of Shriram Sena,
- Twelve School children fell ill after drinking the water which was laced with poison in Karnataka.
A government school’s water tank was poisoned to allegedly remove its Muslim headmaster from his post in Karnataka’s Belagavi district. The July 14 incident led to the arrest of three people, including a local leader of the anti-Muslim Hindu extremist group Sri Ram Sene.
According to the police, the accused aimed to create panic and suspicion around Headmaster Suleman Gorinaik, who has been in service at the Government Lower Primary School in Hulikatti for the past 13 years. Police said the plot was allegedly intended to malign his reputation and force his transfer.
Twelve students fell ill after consuming water from the school’s tank. The symptoms, though not fatal, were sufficient to raise alarm among school authorities and parents. The children were treated promptly and have since recovered, health officials confirmed.
The police traced the poisoning to an act carried out by a fifth-grade student. The boy, upon questioning, disclosed that he had been given a bottle containing a harmful substance and instructed to pour it into the water tank. The person who handed him the bottle identified as Krishna Madar.
Further investigation revealed that Krishna had acted under duress. According to police, he was being blackmailed by Sagar Patil and Naganagouda Patil, who allegedly threatened to expose his inter-caste romantic relationship. Under pressure, Krishna complied with their demand to sabotage the school’s drinking water. Sagar Patil, the taluk-level president of the Sri Rama Sene, has been identified as the alleged orchestrator behind the incident.
Police confessed during questioning that he resented a Muslim holding the position of headmaster in the local government school. Patil and Krishna Madar have been arrested.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah condemned the poisoning attempt in a post on X on Sunday, calling it a “heinous act driven by religious hatred and fundamentalism,” he said the crime posed a grave threat to communal harmony.
Recent findings from Human Rights Watch, Fortify Rights, and other monitors reveal a sharp deterioration in conditions for Muslims living in India, marked by state-backed persecution, impunity, and rising hate speech. Reports document anti-Muslim rhetoric by senior leaders, vigilante and police violence, arbitrary arrests, custodial killings, and punitive home and mosque demolitions. Investigations further expose the forcible expulsion of hundreds of Indian Muslim citizens and Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh without due process, under threat of violence.
