Lawlessness rules Bengaluru: Hundreds of people protest on the streets

Bengaluru: Lawlessness ruled the streets of Bengaluru on Monday, as the police failed to contain the situation throughout the day and angry mobs continued torching scores of vehicles till late evening.

The police had to resort to firing, which led to the death of a 25-year-old man and left two others injured, while curfew was clamped in the jurisdiction of 16 police stations in West and North Bengaluru, to bring the situation under control.

Protests out by Kannada activists against attacks on Kannadigas in Tamil Nadu and the Supreme Court order to release Cauvery water to the neighbouring state took a violent turn with hundreds of people pouring out onto the streets and protesting. Scores of vehicles were torched and damaged, as the police stood mute spectators in most cases.

Mocking the elaborate security arrangements made by the police, the mob went on the rampage and torched vehicles, burnt tyres on roads and forced shops shut.

The situation went out of control near Mohan theatre at Hegganahalli in Rajagopalanagar when a mob torched two Hoysala vehicles and a KSRP van. Despite police resorting to a lathi-charge and lobbing tear shells to disperse the mob, the situation did not come under control. The mob also attacked the police and indulged in stone throwing, in which DCP (North) T. R. Suresh sustained minor injuries.

At this juncture, the CAR police opened fire at the mob and three men were injured and the mob dispersed. The police immediately rushed the injured men to various hospitals. Of the three, Umesh, 25, who hailed from Kunigal in Tumakaru district working in a petrol pump in the city, succumbed to injuries at a hospital. The bullet had hit him in the back and exited from his chest.

In the night, Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwara held a high-level meeting with senior police officials. Later, the police announced curfew in the jurisdiction of 16 police station limits.