SHIVAMOGGA: The city continued to remain tense on Saturday, with the death toll rising to two after a 35-year-old man was stabbed to death on Friday night. There is a heavy deployment of police and Section 144 has been enforced throughout the city.
On Friday night Manjappa, a wine shop ow-ner, was stabbed to death by miscreants in Mallikar-juna Nagar near Tippu Nagar, while in another incident Jayakanth, a veterinary doctor, was allegedly assaulted at Gondichatnahalli, about 6 km from the city. Around 9.30 pm, Manjappa had gone to buy betel leaves and areca, but did not return. Later his body was recovered in the morning. Jayakanth was stabbed on his neck and is undergoing treatment at a city hospital.
Home Minister K. J. George arrived here in the afternoon held meetings with police officers. ADGP Amar Kumar Pandey, IGP M. Nanjundaswamy, Tumakuru SP Raman Gupta, Haveri SP Shashikumar and Shivamogga in-charge SP Karthik Reddy and ASP S.S. Nayak attended the meeting.
The bandh call given by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Hindu organisations evoked good response. Violence erupted in the city on Thursday after some objectionable slogans were raised during the unity convention organised by Popular Front of India and Social Democratic Party of India (PFI-SDPI).
On Thursday night the PFI activists, who were returning to Mangaluru, assaulted a youth near Gajanur, who later succumbed to injuries. On Friday, the youth’s body was taken in a procession and miscreants stoned the Congress party office and torched vehicles in various places. BJP leaders, led by K.S. Eshwarappa, staged a dharna demanding action against PFI activists.
Maintain calm: Home Minister K.J. George
The Home Minister has said that no one should take political advantage of the communal tension in Shivamogga. He told reporters on Saturday that “We have to first douse the tense atmosphere prevailing in the city since Thursday.
It is not correct to say that the Congress government is in favour of minorities and against Hindus. The government is treating everybody equally and there is no need to appease anyone,” he noted.
