Repeated appeals from senior police officials and the district administration to senior BJP leaders, including RDPR Minister K S Eshwarappa, to not take out a procession in order to prevent deterioration of law and order and peace in Shivamogga went in vain, sources say.
Eshwarappa, according to sources, was approached by ADGP Murugan, DC Selvakumar and others to ensure that rally is not taken out. “He just nodded in agreement and the procession went on,” a senior official under the condition of anonymity said.
Officials of the district were aware of the sensitive situation in Shivamogga city as stone-pelting incidents were reported soon after the murder on Sunday evening. Attempts to deploy Rapid Action Force (RAF) from Bhadravathi - around 25 km from Shivamogga - hit a roadblock as the personnel were deputed for election duty in Uttar Pradesh. This forced them to seek assistance from the Chennai RAF unit.
“Such incidents in Shivamogga cause a lot of challenges. While communally sensitive districts such as Dakshina Kannada have a predictable pattern when it comes to communal incidents, it is not the case with Shivamogga. Moreover, deployment of additional personnel within a short span of time too is not as easy as in the case of the coastal districts,” another official noted.
As thousands gathered near the McGann Hospital on Monday morning from different parts of the Shivamogga district, officials were wary that the situation could well go out of hand. This led to a series of meetings with senior BJP leaders of the district, with requests to call off the procession citing law and order concerns.
“Even as Eshwarappa was being briefed about the possible ramifications of a procession, the mob continued to swell,” the official added, claiming that the minister might have had little say in stopping the procession by then.
Eshwarappa said that he had arrived in the city to control the situation. “I came to Harsha’s house (from Bengaluru) and consoled his parents. I learnt about the large crowd that had gathered and I along with (Shivamogga MP) B Y Raghavendra ventured to control the crowd. We tried as much as we could to bring order. But, there were a lot of people. They pelted stones at several shops without realising which shop was owned by Hindus and which ones by Muslims. A lot of outsiders were here. Everything will come out after the enquiry,” he said.
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