Lanka police questions more ruling party MPs over violence
Colombo(PTI): Sri Lankan police on Thursday questioned three more members of the ruling SLPP parliamentary group over the violent clashes between anti- and pro-government protesters in the country that killed at least 10 people and injured over 200 others.
On May 9, violence erupted in Sri Lanka after supporters of former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa attacked peaceful anti-government protesters demanding his ouster over the country's worst economic crisis that led to acute shortages of staple food, fuel and power.
Nihal Thalduwa, the police spokesman, said three former ministers were quizzed on Thursday in Parliament by a group of police's CID investigators.
Two of their colleagues who were arrested previously have been remanded till May 25.
Thalduwa said 1,059 people have been arrested for attacks on the protesters and for the violence unleashed against the ruling parliamentarians where some 78 government parliamentarians had suffered arson attacks on property.
Thalduwa said the death toll from violence had risen to 10 with the death of a person admitted to hospital with serious head injuries dying on Thursday.
Politicians were charged with encouraging them to attack the protesters. At least two of them, a former state minister and another MP, who had been identified in video footage as instigators of violence were arrested and remanded.
The government parliamentarians blamed police inaction as the cause of arson attacks against their private properties.
They charged the opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) with instigating violence which was vehemently denied by the Marxist party.
The mob destroyed several tents and other structures erected at Galle Face and also attacked some of the demonstrators. The violence saw arson attacks on the homes of several politicians, including the ancestral home of the Rajapaksas in Hambantota.
Video footage showed the entire house of Mahinda Rajapaksa and his younger brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Medamulana in Hambantota city was burning.
Former Prime Minister Mahinda's House in Kurunegala was also set on fire by protesters while a mob also destroyed D A Rajapaksa Memorial constructed in the memory of the father of Mahinda and Gotabaya in Medamulana, Hambantota.
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Case filed after illegal blasting during well work damages house in Dakshina Kannada
Mangaluru: Police have registered a case following an alleged illegal blasting incident during well construction at Ramakunja village in Kadaba taluk that reportedly caused damage to a nearby house.
According to a report published by Deccan Herald, the incident occurred when Somashekhar, who owns land at Kampa in Ramakunja village, began digging a well on his property. The work of breaking rocks inside the well was reportedly entrusted to Shivarama, a resident of Kodimbala village.
Police said Shivarama allegedly prepared to use explosives to break the rocks inside the well. Residents living nearby noticed the preparations and went to the spot, warning him not to carry out the blast as houses were located close to the site and the explosion could pose a danger to people and property.
Despite the warning from locals, the blasting was allegedly carried out using explosives. Following the explosion, cracks were reported on the wall of a house located nearby.
Based on a complaint, the Kadaba Police have registered a case under Sections 288 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and Section 9(B) of the Explosives Act, 1884.
