Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has landed in controversy after being caught on tape instructing someone - most likely a senior police officer - to "mercilessly" avenge the killing of a local leader of his party, the Janata Dal Secular or JDS. "He (Prakash) was a good man. I don't know who killed him in this way. Kill the miscreant mercilessly. There would be no issue," he is heard saying in video clips recorded by local journalists.