BELAGAVI: Thousands of Kannadigas who were on a pilgrimage to Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, became victims of violence that broke out over a petty issue on Wednesday midnight at a tea shop. Hundreds of cars and passenger vehicles with Karnataka number plates were damaged, and two men were injured.
An altercation between a local youth and a Kannadiga over drinking water blew up into a huge issue around 2am Thursday. In what appeared to be an organised attack, a mob threw stones at vehicles from Karnataka and in the melee, Srisaila Varimath from Bagalkot sustained a severe head injury, while Gopal Rudrappa of Hungund taluk suffered a minor injury. Both were shifted to hospital for treatment and are said to be out of danger.
Thousands of devotees from Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Gadag, Haveri, Dharwad and other districts of North Karnataka had visited Srisailam on the occasion of Ugadi.