Former Karnataka Chief Minister and current Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Siddaramaiah on Wednesday visited the recently riot-hit areas of east Bengaluru within DJ Halli and KG Hallli police station limits. He was accompanied by his junior colleague and Shivaji Nagar MLA Rizwan Arshad and other Congress functionaries.
On the night of August 11, a mob had gathered in front of the DJ Halli police station demanding the arrest of Naveen, the nephew of Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, for allegedly putting up an offensive post against Prophet Mohammed on social media. The mob torched several vehicles and left the MLA’s house and the DJ Halli police station partially gutted.
In a series of tweets, Siddaramaiah said, “I was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 when DJ Halli incident happened and I have come now to visit the spot after completing quarantine norms.”
Condemning the violence, Siddamraiah added that the incident could have been avoided had the police taken swift action against Naveen.
I condemn the act of violence and all those who were involved in the violence should be punished. This could have been averted if police had taken swift action against Naveen.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) September 2, 2020
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He also demanded that the police release people who have been allegedly wrongly apprehended. He tweeted, “I condemn the act of violence and all those who were involved in the violence should be punished. This could have been averted if police had taken swift action against Naveen.”
He added, “Many are arrested for orchestrating violence in the DJ Halli. Police should gather evidence and pursue the case. Release those people against whom there is no evidence. Innocents should not be framed and at the same time real culprits should not be let off.”
It may also be recalled that police had to open fire to contain the violence and three persons died of bullet injuries. Another person who was arrested had also died due to a pre-existing health complication, police have said.
More than 300 persons have been arrested and police have also invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and claimed that many of the accused in custody were also linked to the Church Street (2014) and Malleshwaram (2013) bomb blast cases. Functionaries of the SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India) and husband of a Congress corporator are among those who have been arrested in the case.