KARWAR: The Siri police resorted to lathicharge and firing in the air on Tuesday morning to control the protesting mob consisting of thousands of BJP workers and pro-Hindu organsiations, despite a ban on rallies by the Uttara Kannada district administration.
On Tuesday morning people from neighbouring villages and taluks gathered in Sirsi and took out a procession rally. The protestors were demanding a proper investigation over the suspicious death of teenager Paresh Mesta during the recent violence in Honnavar.
The protesters gave a bandh call in Sirsi and Siddapur despite deputy commissioner SS Nakul's ban order on any kind of rally or protest from Tuesday to Thursday in all 11 taluks of the district. More than 500 police from neighbouring Haveri, Shivamogga and Davangere districts were deployed in Sirsi.
During the procession, protesters pelted stones on few NWKRTC buses and also on police personnel. Few of them forcefully shutdown shops at Sirsi old bus station. To control the mob police resorted to lathi-charge and fired in the air. At the moment, the whole city has been shut down leading to people from other towns being stuck at the Sirsi bus terminal.
Meanwhile, union minister Anant Kumar Hegde who is in Sirsi spoke to the media and said, "CM Siddaramaiah and his government has been trying to close the murder case of Paresh Mesta who was brutally killed in Honnavar and they have given a report that Mesta's death is normal and not murder. BJP has not given any bandh call, people of the district have gathered to force the state government to reveal the truth behind the death of Mesta."
BJP Legislators and Members of Parliament led by the leader of the opposition in Legislative Council, KS Eshwarappa, marched to Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum seeking his instruction to the state government for an NIA probe into the killing of BJP, RSS workers including Paresh Mesta in the coastal region.
They earlier held a protest in front of Ambedkar statue at Vidhana Soudha and accused the state government of turning a blind eye to the nefarious activities of outfits like PFI whose activists are allegedly involved in attacks on pro-Hindu activists.