Heavy police deployment continues in Maddur amid BJP bandh call
Mandya (PTI): Heavy police deployment continued in Maddur town on Tuesday, even as the situation remained peaceful in the wake of a bandh call given by the BJP following communal clashes during a Ganesha immersion procession on Sunday.
BJP Mandya district president Indresh N S has given the call and the saffron party's ally JD(S) also supports this bandh call.
Around 800 personnel, including four Superintendents of Police, Additional SPs, and Karnataka State Reserve Police forces, have been deployed as a precautionary measure, Mandya Superintendent of Police Mallikarjun Baladandi told PTI.
"The situation is under control and peaceful. Prohibitory orders are in place till tomorrow morning. Adequate forces have been deployed, and liquor sales have been prohibited," he said.
Police said two FIRs have been registered in connection with clashes that broke out on Sunday when stones were thrown at the Ganesha idol procession in Ram Rahim Nagar.
While police booked a case on their own, they registered another based on a complaint lodged by an injured person.
So far, 22 people have been arrested in connection with the Sunday incident.
According to SP, strict vigilance has been maintained regarding miscreants trying to use the situation to instigate any untoward incident. Deployment has been increased in all areas, and especially at sensitive points.
"Regarding the stone pelting incident, we have prepared a list of 26 people involved, among them, 22 people have been arrested and four are yet to be arrested. All of them are in judicial custody. We are thinking about taking them into police custody for inquiry regarding those behind the incident and to see if there was instigation from someone," he said.
Further investigations are on regarding whether it was pre-planned, he said.
"We are analysing several CCTV footage and videos to check the movement of people," he said.
Asked whether the accused are associated with any organisation, the SP said, "We are yet to get more information on it."
Teams are verifying the CCTVs about the allegations that rods were shown as a sign of threat during the procession, he added.
According to police, the stone-pelting, which began about 500 metres from a mosque, led to retaliation from members of the procession.
Police resorted to a mild lathi charge to disperse two clashing groups. Hindu activists later staged protests, raising Jai Sri Ram slogans, burning tyres, and waving saffron flags.
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Karnataka HC quashes BJP's defamation case against Rahul Gandhi
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday quashed the defamation proceedings initiated by the BJP against top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The case was filed in 2023, when BJP was in power in Karnataka, following a "corruption rate card" published by the then opposition Congress to claim large scale irregularities prevailing in the state under the saffron party's rule.
Along with Gandhi, now Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, the BJP had accused the then Karnataka LoP Siddaramaiah and Congress state president D K Shivakumar.
Presently Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister and Shivakumar is his deputy.
Challenging the defamation case, Gandhi had approached the High Court stating that the continuation of the case would be an abuse of law.
The bench of Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav allowed the petition.
The complainant said that Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had conspired together to defame the BJP government and made baseless allegation and insinuation.
