Bengaluru: Renowned actor Prakash Belawadi on Tuesday courted controversy after he said in a Facebook post that a large-scale Hindu-Muslim riot worse than the Gujarat riots of 2002 was inevitable in West Bengal. He also added that it was already too late to stop it from happening.

In the post, Prakash recalled an incident from 2002 when the Gujarat riots took place and added “On that morning of 27 February, when 59 pilgrims were burnt alive in a train at Godhra, a liberal friend, with whom I am no longer friends, called me from Ahmedabad: That will teach these Sanghis a lesson, he said or something to that effect. I said the retaliation would be swift and terrible. It was…”

Stating that the Gujarat riots were practically one-sided given Muslims made up only 8% of Gujarat’s population, he said it will be different in West Bengal as its 30% population is Muslim. He went on to add that it will not be a factor to stop the riot from happening and that it will come “in the fullness of time”.

“Of course, that riot was practically one-sided since Muslims made up only 8% of the population in Gujarat. In West Bengal, it’s different: the Muslim population is over 30%. The retaliation won’t be swift. But make no mistake, it will come in the fullness of time, a Hindu-Muslim riot. When it does, it will be tragic, brutal, and organized. The state govt which seems cool about it now, and the liberals who seem to think the Sanghis deserve it, will have a reckoning” he said while adding “It’s already too late to stop it. It is sickeningly inevitable”.

The post anguished users who were quick to object to it prompting Prakash to delete the post. “Now that the argument is going ad hominem, I’m going off FB for a few months. Bye,” he wrote before deleting the post.

When Vartha Bharati contacted Prakash on the matter, the actor disconnected the calls saying he will not comment on the issue.

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Faridabad (PTI): A man was arrested here on Tuesday for allegedly abducting a bank manager for a ransom of Rs 5 lakh, police said.

On April 21, two armed men, including Bhupender (30), kidnapped Satish Kumar from his house in Ballabgarh’s Sector 62. They took him to Himachal Pradesh and demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh from his family, they said.

Later, the accused negotiated with Satish's family and asked for Rs 5 lakh for his release. They asked his family to deposit Rs 1 lakh in Satish's account and withdrew the money from different places using his debit card, police said.

The kidnappers asked Satish’s wife to bring the remaining Rs 4 lakh Kelly bypass in Ballabgarh. Police then laid a trap and arrested Bhupender, they said.

Bhupendra revealed that he was a tenant in Satish's house and lived there about 4 months ago. He then hatched a plan with his friend Ravindra to kidnap the bank manager for ransom, a senior police officer said.

He told police that Satish was with Ravindra in Mathura. Following this, a team went there and rescued the victim but the other accused managed to flee, police said.

They said two pistols, three live cartridges, a rope, Satish's vehicle used for kidnapping him and Rs 4 lakh cash were recovered from the kidnappers.

“Our teams are conducting raids to nab Ravindra and others,” said Sube Singh, spokesperson of Faridabad police.