Bengaluru: The city police have successfully pinned down almost all pro-Kannada outfit leaders who were nowhere to be on Tuesday and Wednesday even after the Supreme Court ordered the state to release 6,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu.
The police have kept these leaders under complete control, not allowing them to stage any kind of protest. On September 12, Kannada activists went on the rampage across the city and indulged in large-scale violence.
The cops have regularised arrests of over 800, but it is believed that over a thousand activists have been kept under detention and are being interrogated for their involvement in Monday's rioting and arson.
Extension of prohibitory orders under Section 144 till Sunday and heavy police bandobast at sensitive and hypersensitive areas in and around Bengaluru, especially at the west and north police divisions, too have helped in containing riots.
The police have also picked up several activists under preventive custody. On Wednesday, over 100 Karnataka Rakshana Vedike protesters were taken into preventive custody when they were getting ready to stage a protest on Cauvery row in Gandhinagar.
Mr T.A. Narayana Gowda, president, Karnataka Rakshna Vedike (KRV), said, “How long can the police stop us from rightfully protesting in a democracy? The police have imposed Section 144 and are making preventive arrests and booking cases against us. The SC on Tuesday ordering Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of water for farming in Tamil Nadu when our state has no water to drink shows how the Tamil Nadu lobby is working at the Centre. The citizens of Karnataka have been denied their right even for protesting. The court has also ordered to constitute a Cauvery Development Board which will be controlled by the union ministry on decisions of releasing water to the neighbouring state. This casts doubt if Karnataka really exists as one of the states in the Indian Union.”
He said, “We want all the 224 MLAs, ministers, including the chief minister, and all the 28 MPs to resign and create a political crisis in the state. We will see for a couple of days and then we will make a clarion call to all our 60 lakh KRV activists statewide to come and gather in Bengaluru and we believe only a lakh of us would be suffice to lay siege to Vidhana Soudha here to get our message across.”
827 activists detained
The city police have arrested 827 people belonging to various pro-Kannada organisations who were involved in rioting and arson on September 12. The police have identified the accused based on CCTV and video footage obtained from various sources, including social media and news channels. So far, there are 204 criminal cases registered and more arrests are likely to follow, a senior police officer said.
On Wednesday, members of the Kannada Okkoota, led by Vattal Nagaraj and others, were detained by the police when they tried to lay siege to Vidhana Soudha while Chief Minister Siddraamaiah was holding an all-party meeting to discuss the Cauvery issue.
The protesters tore the recent judgement copy of the Supreme Court and tried to barge into Vidhana Soudha when the police stopped them and bundled them into a van for violating prohibitory orders.
As a precautionary measure, security was stepped up at the chief minister’s residence, Vidhana Soudha and Legislators’ Home.
Elaborate security arrangements continued in the city with over 16,000 police personnel with additional paramilitary forces monitoring the law and order situation in sensitive areas. Pubs, wine shops, bars and restaurants remained closed on Wednesday.
Byatarayanapura inspector transferred?
The police top brass is not taking kindly to officers who failed to react in time to prevent violent protests on September 12. Nearly a week after the two deputy commissioners of police – T.R. Suresh (North) and Ajay Hilori (West) – were shunted out of their positions for widespread rioting in their jurisdictions, the police higher-ups have transferred West Division’s Byatarayanapura police station inspector Hemanth Kumar, sources said. He has been transferred without a posting. The clean-up will not stop here and many more officers are likely to face action, the source said. The West and North Divisions were affected the most in September 12 violence.
