Bengaluru: Opposition BJP legislators on Wednesday staged a sit-in demonstration near Gandhi statue outside Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the Karnataka legislature here, in protest against the brutal murder of a Jain monk and demanding a CBI probe into it.

Led by former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, the legislators sat near the statue and raised slogans against the Congress government over “deteriorating” law and order situation in the state.

Later, they took out a march towards Raj Bhavan and submitted a representation to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and requested him to issue appropriate directions to the government to maintain law and order in the State and keep peace and tranquility.

The BJP said the body of the Digambar Jain seer, Kamkumar Nandi Maharaj, was found in a defunct borewell at Hirekodi in Chikkodi taluk of Belagavi district on July 8, chopped into pieces and wrapped in a plastic bag.

In another incident on July 9, a 32-year-old man, who is associated with ‘Yuva Brigade’, related to ‘Namo Brigade’, was hacked to death during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations on the outskirts of T Narasipura in Mysuru district, it said.

“Similarly, incidents have taken place across the state like Hosakote, Dharwad and Yadgir. The persons attached to one particular political party have been targeted and brutally murdered to create fear in the minds of citizens,” the BJP said in its representation.

The party said in Kalaburagi district recently, a police constable who tried to stop illegal sand mafia was murdered, and another police constable even attempted to commit suicide due to threats.

The BJP alleged that after the Congress government took charge in the state there were incidents wherein slogans like ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were heard openly in public at Belagavi and, in Bhatkal, there were slogans “that there should not be a person to lift Hindu dead bodies”.

The party claimed that there is total failure on the part of the state government to maintain the law and order situation in the state.

The Karnataka government has ruled out a CBI probe into the murder of the Jain monk.

The opposition BJP on Tuesday staged a protest by trooping into the well of the Legislative Assembly, demanding that the case be handed over to the central investigating agency.

Ruling out BJP’s demand, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G Parameshwara have said that the government has taken all the cases seriously; police are probing the cases efficiently and will bring out the truth, and will ensure merciless strict action against culprits.

Police have arrested two persons — Narayana Basappa Madi and Hassan Dalayath — in connection with the case.