BENGALURU: A day after violence and arson broke out in Kaval Byrasandra area in DJ Halli police limits on Tuesday night, the city police arrested 193 people and registered 12 First Information Reports (FIRs) in two police stations in connection with the incident. A 3,000-strong mob had attacked and set ablaze Pulakeshi Nagar constituency Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy’s house. The arson and rioting led to the deaths of three persons when the police resorted to firing.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday ordered a probe into the incident by the District Executive Magistrate. An offensive Facebook post, allegedly posted by P Naveen, nephew of Srinivasa Murthy, is said to have sparked the widespread violence in Kaval Byrasandra which started with the attack on the MLA’s house.
Official sources said that besides the three deaths, 33 people, including 14 policemen, were injured while 50 twowheelers and 19 four-wheelers, including police vehicles, were torched or damaged.
The three dead have been identified as Wajid Khan (19), a cook, Yasin Pasha (22), who worked in a mutton stall (both residents of DJ Halli), and Sheikh Siddique (24), an auto driver and resident of Nagawara. The autopsy of the two deceased was conducted at Bowring Hospital, while the other tested positive for COVID- 19.
The last rites were conducted at a cemetery located on Nandidurga Road amidst tight police security. Television journalist Nolan Pinto and digital media journalist Prajwal sustained injuries when police personnel at the spot allegedly roughed them up with lathis, while another regional TV Journalist was injured when the mob targeted him. Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and leaders of the opposition Congress visited the spot on Wednesday and took stock of the situation, after which he said the cost of damage will be recovered from the rioters.
Curfew has been extended in the two police station limits till 6 am on Saturday. The angry mob had attacked the MLA’s residence in Kaval Byrasandra by pelting stones. Soon, the mob surrounded the house and allegedly threw petrol bombs and torched it. By that time, thousands had gathered in front of DJ Halli and KG Halli police stations seeking action against Naveen. Before the police could mobilise enough personnel, the situation spun out of control as mobsters started pelting stones at the police stations, damaging police and private vehicles.
Curfew clamped, security up in KB Sandra
SENIOR officers, who rushed to the spot, were also targeted and their vehicles damaged. While the reserve police tried to control the situation by conducting lathi-charge and lobbing teargas shells, they were attacked with boulders, glass bottles, and other weapons.
The attack left at least 15 policemen injured and the police resorted to firing at the mob, in which three youths were killed — one on the spot and two later in the hospital. A few others were injured in the police firing that took place near KG Halli police station. However, by 2 am on Wednesday the police had gained complete control over the situation and clamped curfew in the jurisdictions of both the police stations. The situation in the locality was peaceful on Wednesday and no untoward incidents were reported. The central police forces were deployed as a precautionary measure.
But the violence also took a political turn with BJP deeming the riot a result of Congress’ appeasement politics, while the Congress leaders demanded action against the persons who put up the post as well as rioters. Meanwhile, former MLC and BJP State Secretary Ashwathnarayan Gowda has alleged that people who were behind Padarayanapura riots in April in Bengaluru and the Mangaluru violence were the ones responsible for Tuesday night’s violence in Bengaluru.
He blamed the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political arm Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) for the incident. DyCM Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said the state government will soon take a decision on banning the organisations that incited violence in Bengaluru after a thorough probe, even as former CM and JDs leader, H D Kumaraswamy, called for action against those responsible for Tuesday’s violence. Gowda, Minister KS Eshwarappa and BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel have alleged that the attack on the MLA’s house and the Tuesday night incident was pre-planned, while Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi termed the incident as a ploy to dent the image of the BJPruled state government.