BENGALURU: Right-wing activist and cow vigilante Puneeth Kerehalli and four of his aides have been arrested by the Kodigehalli police after they allegedly questioned the staff of Mall of Asia in Byatarayanapura over decorating the mall for Christmas and charging Rs 200 as entry fee on Saturday.
The police said Kerehalli, president of Rashtriya Rakshana Pade, and four others went to the mall on Friday and questioned the staff for decorating the mall for Christmas. When the staff said it was the festive season, they allegedly questioned whether they decorated the mall the same way for Hindu festivals. The accused also questioned the staff for charging Rs 200 and allegedly tried to stop the visitors from entering the mall.
Despite the mall staff requesting them to leave, they allegedly used a loudspeaker asking the visitors not to enter the mall. When Stephen Victor, assistant security manager, intervened, they allegedly hurled abuses at him and accused him of supporting the mall as he is a Christian. They allegedly demanded that the mall should be decorated on January 22 when Ram Mandir will be inaugurated at Ayodhya and threatened to stage a protest in front of the mall on Christmas and New Year day, besides sloganeering ‘Jai Sriram’.
Mall staff alerted police
The mall staff alerted the police, who rushed to the spot and took the five into custody. Based on Victor’s complaint, the Kodigehalli police registered an FIR booking the accused for making statements inducing public mischief, criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint, unlawful assembly and hurting religious feelings.
Puneeth Kerehalli and his aides were arrested by the Sathanur police in Kanakapura of Ramanagara district in April for allegedly lynching a cattle transporter, in an alleged case of cow vigilantism. The police had also booked him under the Goonda Act in August and were released in September as the State Advisory Boards cited a lack of sufficient grounds to book him under the law.