Sullia police arrest 15 including BJP leaders, HHV calls for protest

Sullia police arrest 15 including BJP leaders, HHV calls for protest

Mangalore Today News Network

Sullia, Dec 16, 2011 : The Hindu Hitarakshana Vedike (HHV) has called for a silent protest on Dec 16 Friday against the recent arrest of 15 people, including BJP leaders, on suspicion of being involved in pelting stones on the local police station on the night of Wednesday.

The police produced the accused in court and they have been remanded to judicial custody till Dec 29. Among the fifteen are Prakash Hegde, the vice president of the Town Panchayat, and BJP leaders P. K. Umesh, Guruprasad, Bhanuprakash, Kiran Kumar, Kishen Kumar, Satish Gowda, and others. Reportedly, the police have launched a man hunt for many others.

 

 

IGP Prathap Reddy of Western Range said in a press conference that these people should not have pelted stones at the police station even after the police had taken appropriate action in the case. He said that the police could do nothing else but use their lathis against them and arrest them as the crowd had become uncontrollable. Superintendent of Police Labhu Ram was also present.

The stone pelting case is connected to another case in which Abdul Hamid of Paivalike and Iqbal of Uppala had taken Shobharani and Pabharani of Jharkand to Mysore to secure jobs for them. The men had met the women in jail, where they were serving a sentence for running a counterfeit currency racket. Reportedly, the men had hired a car at Manjeshwar and were taking the two women to Mysore when the car was stopped by a huge group of people.

More than 500 people gathered in front of the police station when Navin Rai, the member of the ZP, and some other leaders were discussing issues with the police. The crowd became uncontrollable and began pelting stones on the police station and the police had to use their lathis to disperse them. In the meantime, the police were making all arrangements to take the two women to a remand home based in Mangalore.

 

Four policemen, including two policewomen, were also injured in the incident. The windows of the car in which the men were taking the two women were damaged and a number of vehicles in the vicinity were also damaged. A man called Gangadhar sustained a fracture when he was trying to escape the lathi charge.

 

 

Additional police contingents had to be deployed to maintain law and order in the area. Additional SP Prabhakar, Puttur Police Inspector Sudarshan, Deputy SP Nagaraj, Circle Inspector Taranath, and many SIs from the neighboring police stations helped bring the condition back to normal.

The Hindu Hitarakshana Vedike called a press meet in Sullia on Thursday, condemning the arrests.