Bangalore Police arrests 11 Sangh Parivar activists

The City police has arrested eleven Sangh Parivar activists for their involvement in the attack on the residence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter in Bangalore and the torching of a Chennai-bound bus.

Police said the suspects, who are now in police custody, first attacked Karunanidhi’s daughter Selvi’s house at J P Nagar in Bangalore and later travelled five kilometers east to the Bangalore-Hosur highway, where they waylaid a Chennai-bound bus, smashed its windscreens with clubs and set it on fire. Two passengers of the bus, who could not alight in time, were charred to death.

Police said the group comprised about 15 activists of the Sangh Parivar organizations represented by Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Sri Rama Sena. The suspects include residents of not only Bangalore, but also Dakshina Kannada and Chikmagalur districts.

The suspects had been apprehended on the basis of information given by eye-witnesses and others rounded up for questioning. The Sangh Parivar activists had carried out the attacks to protest against Karunanidhi’s remarks on Ram in the midst of the controversy over the Sethusamudram project.

Meanwhile, Karnataka has assured Tamil Nadu Government that the persons arrested by the Bangalore police and identified as Sangh Parivar activists would be dealt with seriously.

Karnataka’s Minister for Home M P Prakash told reporters that the police has been instructed by the Government to investigate the case thoroughly. “The police has been told that they are at a liberty to take serious action and there will be no interference from the Government whatsoever”, Prakash said.

Prakash said he was also in touch with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and Federal Home Minister Shivaraj Patil on the steps being taken by the Bangalore police.

Meanwhile, the BJP, which is scheduled to take over the post of Chief Minister from H D Kumaraswamy on October 3, claimed that its frontal organizations were not involved in either torching of the bus or the attack on the house of Karunanidhi’s daughter.

BJP spokesman Suresh Kumar told reporters in Bangalore that chiefs of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishat had denied their role in the incidents. “These organizations would never indulge in inhuman activities like torching of the bus, which has led to the death of two persons”, Suresh Kumar said.