Nagamangala (Karnataka): A police inspector has been suspended for dereliction of duty while three more people have been taken into custody in connection with the violence during a Ganesh idol immersion procession here.
The situation in this town in Mandya district, where clashes broke out between two groups following which mobs went on a rampage targeting several shops and vehicles leading to tension on Wednesday night, has returned to normal, police said on Friday.
Though the situation remains peaceful, additional police forces continued to be deployed in the town, where prohibitory orders banning assembly of more than four people have been imposed till September 14 as a precautionary measure.
With the fresh arrests, the total number of people held in the case now stands at 55. Those 52 people who were initially arrested have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days, police officials said.
Police Inspector Ashok Kumar posted at Nagamangala town police station was suspended on Thursday evening for dereliction of duty in connection with the clashes that broke out during the procession, Mandya Superintendent of Police, Mallikarjun Baldandi told PTI.
As many as 18 FIRs have been registered in connection with the incident, police said. Home Minister G Parameshwara warned that merciless action would be taken against those taking law into their hands, adding, an inquiry is on. He said the Government will consider giving compensation to those, whose livelihood has been affected due to the incident, as he hit out at the opposition parties for "politicising" the episode.
"(A Police) Inspector has been suspended, as he had slightly altered the given route (of the procession). It is his responsibility. We had told police staff and officials across the state that if any incidents take place in their respective jurisdiction they will be held responsible. As negligence was found on the part of the Inspector, he has been suspended," Parameshwara told reporters in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, BJP and JD(S) leaders said the violence during the procession was "pre-planned", as they hit out at "appeasement politics" of the Congress government.
Union Minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, who is also Mandya MP, visited Nagamangala on Friday and said it emerges from on-spot inspection that prima facie the violence was "systematically pre-planned".
Hitting out at Parameshwara for terming the incident as "minor" and "accidental", Kumaraswamy said: "what kind of message are you sending out to the people....you are calling it accidental...when such a procession was taking place and it was a sensitive area, if adequate measures were taken, such an incident wouldn't have happened, shops of people who have been living here for 30-40 years have been torched."
Union Minister and BJP leader Pralhad Joshi too said that looking at the developments it looks like it was "premeditated". Metal rods, stones, and "long weapons" were used to attack during Ganesh procession; also a petrol bomb is said to have been hurled. BJP youth wing chief and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya said whenever Congress came to power in Karnataka "Tipu Sultan and Aurangazeb's offsprings germinate, and they get strength."
"This is what has happened in Nagamangala's Mohabbat ki Dukan."
Police said a case has been registered for unlawful assembly, attempt to murder, obstructing public servants, destruction of public property and other sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in connection with Nagamangala violence. A few people, including two policemen, sustained minor injuries in stone-pelting on Wednesday night.
According to police, an argument broke out between two groups, when the Ganesh idol procession by devotees from Badri Koppalu village reached a place of worship on Wednesday, and some miscreants hurled stones, which escalated the situation. Following the clashes between the two groups, a few shops were vandalised and goods torched and vehicles set on fire on Wednesday night, they added. Police used mild force to disperse the crowd to control the situation.
