BENGALURU: 9 months after his house in Kavalbyrasandra was torched by a mob of over 2,000 rioters, Congress MLA of Pulakeshinagar Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy has started construction of a new house at the same site.Murthy told TNIE that he had his semi-burnt house demolished and started constructing a new house. “My family and I have suffered a lot in the last nine months. We have been living with relatives after my house was burnt down,” he said.
The MLA rued the fact that he got no support from KPCC President DK Shivakumar, despite several appeals and personal meetings with him. “The KPCC President has been supporting former mayor and corporator Sampath Raj, who was arrested last year for his involvement in the case. I have, however, received consistent moral support from former chief minister Siddaramaiah,” Murthy said. He said he will shortly seek an appointment with the Congress high command to draw attention to the injustice done to him by Shivakumar.
Raj, who was DJ Halli ward corporator when the riots broke out on August 11, was arrested for allegedly playing a key role in instigating others to set fire to Murthy’s residence. The High Court-appointed HS Kempanna Committee had inspected his house two months ago, he said. Justice Kempanna, a retired High Court judge, was appointed last August as Claims Commissioner to assess the damage caused to public and private properties during the DJ Halli and KG Halli riots in which the MLA’s house was burnt down.
The Central Crime Branch had arrested more than 400 people in the arson which had damaged DJ Halli and KG Halli police stations, and public and private properties, after Murthy’s nephew P Naveen had allegedly posted a sacrilegious post on social media. Three people had lost their lives in police firing. The CCB had filed a preliminary chargesheet, naming Raj and Congress corporator A R Zakir. The National Investigation Agency, investigating the violence, had in its chargesheet submitted in February, stated that riot was pre-meditated.