BENGALURU: In a big relief to RSS leader Dr Kalladka Prabhakara Bhat and Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel, the High Court on Tuesday quashed the case registered against them by Bantwal police for protesting in violation of prohibitory orders in relation to the murder of RSS worker Sharath Madiwala.
Justice Ashok G Nijagannavar quashed the proceedings against them while allowing the petition filed by Kateel and others on the ground that there were lapses in filing of the complaint as the same was not filed by competent authorities.
The petitioners have contended that the the FIR was registered by the police owing to political pressure and there was a delay of seven months in issuing notices by Bantwal town police asking them to appear before them for investigation.
The notices were served when assembly elections were nearing, they claimed. The police had issued notices to them on February 15, 2018. According to the petition, the police had registered a suo motu case on July 7, 2017 under Sections 142, 143 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to order) and 149 (offence of common object) of IPC, for violating prohibitory orders clamped by the Deputy Commissioner, by holding a procession over the murder of RSS worker Sharath Madiwala.
The case was registered against RSS leader Prabhakara Bhat, Mangaluru MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLAs Rajesh Naik, V Sunil Kumar, MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary, former MLC Ganesh Karnik, former MLA Padmanabha Kottary and others.