Prohibitory orders in parts of City
5,000 armed police deployed after communal riots, murder
Frazer Town, KG Halli, DJ Halli, Banaswadi, Hennur, Nagawara, Tannery Road and Sampigehalli looked like a police barrack as 5,000 armed menhad been deployed in the area.
Tension gripp-ed the communally sensitive Frazer Town and KG Halli here, following a murder and stone throwing incidents on Thursday night.
The City police were forced to promulgate prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code on Friday in East Bangalore.
Police arranged the bandobast fearing further communal flare up on Friday.
Trouble started in KG Halli on Thursday evening at about 6.30 pm when the participants of a Ganesha procession approached near a religious place of a minority community shouting slogans. At that time, the members of the minority community were offering prayers after breaking their Ramzan fast.
The sloganeering irked them and they reportedly asked those in the procession to stop shouting. When they did not oblige, stones were allegedly pelted at the procession, triggering violence in the area.
KG Halli inspector T Rangappa rushed to the spot and tried to calm the situation. In the meantime, additional forces were also dispatched to the spot. The flare-up continued till Thursday midnight.
Youth murdered
Before the police could heave a sigh of relief, a youth participating in a Ganesha immersion procession was murdered at Frazer Town on Thursday night.
Christopher Vinith, (23), a resident of Sampigehalli, was part of the Ganesha immersion procession. A college drop-out, Christopher used to participate every year to install Ganesha in Nagawara.
On Thursday night, when he was moving with the procession , he received a call from his friend who asked him to come to Lingarajapuram.
Leaving the procession mid-way, Christopher along with his friend Vikram, 22, a resident of Nagavara, left for Lingarajapuram.
He had hardly moved a few yards away from the place when four youths waylaid him and stabbed him.
When Vikram tried to save Christopher the assailants hit his head with a shaft and injured his nose.
A badly injured Vikram ran away from there and informed the family members of Christopher over the phone about the incident.
After the call, a profusely bleeding Vikram too fell unconscious.
Declared dead
Christopher’s mother who rushed to the spot with her neighbours and relatives took her badly bleeding son to a private hospital at Kammanahalli, from where he was taken to NIMHANS and then to Bowring Hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
As the news of death of Christopher Vinith spread, tension gripped Sampigehalli and Nagawara.
Following the two incidents, the police clamped Section 144 of the CrPC as a precautionary step to control further flare up of communal tension in the area. The worst affected areas were DJ Halli, KG Halli, Tannery Road and Hennur.
ATMs closed
Many shops brought their shutters down voluntarily and people had to languish for basic needs like milk, vegetables, medicines.
The BangaloreOne centre too remained closed. Many banks had closed down their ATM kiosks in the affected area fearing damage to ATMs .
