BENGALURU: Miscreants threw an egg at Rajarajeshwari Nagar BJP MLA Munirathna while he was leaving the venue of a party function at Nandini Layout here on Wednesday. Police have taken three people into custody in this connection.
The MLA, who was treated at KC General Hospital in Malleswaram after the incident, alleged that it was an acid attack and a “murder bid”.
The 60-year-old MLA was walking towards his car after participating in the function to mark the 100th birth anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the BJP office when the incident took place.
Policemen at the venue swung into action and took the MLA to a safe place. “The incident happened around 11.30am at Lakshmi Devi Nagar in Laggere. While walking from the BJP office towads his car on Studio Road, the egg was thrown at him from about 15 metres. The MLA then went to hospital,” Saidulu Adavath, DCP (North), told reporters.
Munirathna lauded the police for saving his life and claimed that an officer advised him to get into his car immediately after the function as there was an intelligence report about a possible attack on him.
Clarifying that there was no such intelligence report, the DCP said, “Our inspector told him (the MLA) to avoid walking towards the car. But the MLA started walking as it was a few metres away. We made regular bandobast as it was a scheduled programme,” Adavath added.
Munirathna accused DyCM DK Shivakumar, former MP DK Suresh, and Hanumanthappa, father of Kusuma, who had contested against him in the Assembly polls and lost, of orchestrating the attack on him.
Attack on RR Nagar MLA: Doctors wait for test results
In his reaction, Bengaluru Rural MP Dr CN Manjunath suspected the possibility of some chemical in the egg as the MLA’s hair got burnt in the attack.
“Doctors have conducted several tests, including a CT scan. We are waiting for the results of the tests to confirm if it was an acid attack,” said Dr Mohan, medical superintendent of KC General Hospital.
Before the MLA was attacked, a person in the group was heard screaming “acid dhaalo” (throw acid). A video of this incident has gone viral. The miscreants also damaged the MLA’s car.
BJP workers staged a protest in front of Dr Rajkumar’s Memorial in Sree Kanteerava Studio, raising slogans against the Congress government. Congress workers too staged a protest outside the Nandini Layout police station. They demanded that a case be registered against Munirathna as some party workers were attacked.
Meanwhile, a Congress worker alleged that he was attacked by Yogesh, Vasanth Kumar, Madhu and Dhum Kumar, all supporters of Munirathna.