Mekedatu Rally: Second FIR filed against 40 Congress leaders for violating Covid rules

A new FIR has been registered against 40 Congress leaders for defying Covid restrictions. The Congress leaders have been booked for violation of guidelines, gathering in huge numbers, without wearing masks and maintaining social distance, under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act and sections of IPC

Ramanagara(Karnataka): As the Congress' rally demanding implementation of Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river entered its third day, another FIR was registered against 40 party leaders, including party's state president D.K. Shivakumar. The FIR was filed for taking out the march defying Covid-19 curbs.

The FIR has been registered at the Sathanoor police station for defying restrictions on Monday, during which Congress leaders and a large number of party workers had marched a distance of about 15 km from Shivakumar's native Doddalahalli to Kanakapura.

Shivakumar's brother and Bengaluru Rural MP D. K. Suresh, former Ministers Krishna Byre Gowda, H. Anjaneya, M.B. Patil, Umasree and party leaders like- Narayanaswamy, Motamma, P.T. Parameshwara Naik, Dhruvanarayana, are among those mentioned in the FIR.

They have been booked for violation of guidelines, gathering in huge numbers, without wearing masks and maintaining social distance, under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act and sections of IPC, the FIR said.

READ:FIR against KPCC chief DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah for flouting Covid norms

On Tuesday, the third day of 10-day long padayatra demanding implementation of Mekedatu project, to which neighboring Tamil Nadu is opposed to, the Congress covered a distance of about 14.3 km from Kanakapura to Chikkenahalli. It witnessed participation of hundreds of party workers and supporters.

The first FIR filed at the same Sathanoor police station for defying restrictions on Sunday had named 30 people including Congress leader Shivakumar, Suresh, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Siddaramaiah, former Union Minister Veerappa Moily, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former Deputy CM G Parameshwara, among others.

The padayatra, spanning a distance of nearly 139 km, is scheduled to conclude at Basavanagudi in Bengaluru on January 19.