Hubballi, 23 April

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday spoke to the father of slain student Neha Hiremath over the phone and said "sorry" for his daughter's killing, and assured that "we will be on your side".

He also informed Niranjan Hiremath, who is also a Congress councillor of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, about the government's decision to hand over the murder case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and setting up a special court to fast-track trial.

Siddaramaiah spoke to Hiremath over a phone call during State's Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil's visit to Hiremath's house here.

Neha, 23, was stabbed to death on the campus of BVB College last Thursday. The accused Fayaz Khondunaik, who fled from the scene, was arrested by the police subsequently.

Siddaramaih on Monday had announced his government has decided to hand over the investigation into CID, and to set up a special court for speedy disposal of the case.

The case sparked widespread outrage and has snowballed into a political slugfest between ruling Congress and Opposition BJP. While the ruling party has tried to project it as an incident with a personal angle, the saffron party has called it a "love jihad" case and has said it's a testimony of the deterioration of law and order in the state.

Earlier, Siddarmaiah's statement that the murder was due to "personal reasons" and Home Minister G Parameshwara's comments that the duo was in love elicited sharp reactions from Hiremath and family members and opposition parties.

Later speaking to reporters, Hiremath apologised to the government, Congress leaders and police for his comments against them and said they were made due to a lack of information, amid grief. PTI