Pro-Kannada activists vandalise minister Tanveer Sait's house

Twenty-two activists of an obscure pro-Kannada organisation barged into the official residence of Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait on Sankey Road here on Saturday, assaulting his security staff and vandalising property.

Around 8.30 am, the members of ‘Karavey Yuva Seney’ drove to Sankey Road and parked their vehicles at a distance. They then marched to Sait’s residence and told his security staff they had come to meet him.

Constable Munikariyappa asked them whether they had a prior appointment. When he learnt they didn’t have any, he refused to let them in. The group, however, pushed him as well as the gunman and barged into the bungalow’s compound. But they realised soon after that the minister was not at home.

The suspects got angry and went on a rampage, pelting the windowpanes with stones and breaking flower pots.

They accused Sait of permitting English medium schools.

They also accused him of neglecting Kannada medium schools and misusing the Right To Education (RTE) quota for admissions.

Seeing the mayhem, Munikariayappa sent out an SOS to the jurisdictional High Grounds police. Soon after, a team led by ACP Ravi Shankar arrived at the spot. The policemen rounded up the suspects and bundled them into a bus.

“We have booked them for assault causing injuries and criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duties, trespassing for committing grave offences, and under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984,” Ravi Shankar told DH.

All the offences are non-bailable. The men were later produced before a magistrate who remanded them in judicial custody till October 18, the officer added.

Police have identified five men — Syed Minaz, Ikram, Nandan, Akash, Mahesh — as the prime suspects.