Cops foil Hindu activists' bid to barge into DC's chamber

Tension prevailed for sometime at the deputy commissioner’s office here, when the activists of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Hindu Jagaran Vedike (HJV) made a bid to barge into the DC’s chamber, in the city on Tuesday.

The activists who had arrived in a rally from General Thimmaiah Circle to the deputy commissioner’s office wanted to handed over the memorandum copy to Deputy Commissioner Richard Vincent D’souza.

They were protesting against the youths belonging to particular community celebrating the victory of Pakistan against India in Champions Cricket Trophy and opposing the recent comments of Dakshina Kannada district In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai against RSS leader Dr Prabhakar Bhat Kalladka.

However, when Assistant Commissioner Nanjunde Gowda came to receive the memorandum, the protesters insisted on arrival of deputy commissioner.

Irked, they raised slogans against the deputy commissioner and also made a bid to barge into the his chamber, only to be restrained by police personnel deployed at the spot. This led to an altercation between the agitators and police, that eventually ended with deputy commissioner receiving the memorandum.

VHP Kodagu district unit general secretary D Narasimha said raising slogans in favour of Pakistan during the victory celebration is an act of sedition. He demanded the DC to extern them from the country.

He also blamed Seventh Hosakote gram panchayat vice president Kunzhikutti for supporting his son Riyaz in raising slogans in favour of Pakistan. Kunzhikutti should be sacked from the gram panchayat as its member, he demanded.

He also warned of calling for Kodagu bandh in the future, alleging that both district administration and police are supporting anti-national elements.

VHP worker Ajith accused Rai of creating disharmony among two communities at Kalladka in Dakshina Kannada.

Earlier, the agitators who gathered at General Thimmaiah Circle raised slogans against the government and formed a human chain.

BJP Kodagu district unit president B B Bharateesh, zilla panchayat vice president Lokeshwari Gopal, councillors P D Ponnappa, Mahesh Jain and K S Ramesh were present.