Will implement K’taka model to deal with rioters: Bommai

With an aim to crackdown on anti-social elements in the state, chief minister (CM) Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday mooted the idea of a “Karnataka model” to deal with miscreants who create social disharmony and disrupt peace

With an aim to crackdown on anti-social elements in the state, chief minister (CM) Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday mooted the idea of a “Karnataka model” to deal with miscreants who create social disharmony and disrupt peace.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the people behind the arson would be identified and dealt with sternly. (PTI)

“We are not treating the Hubballi arson case as an ordinary one. The conspiracy and organised attack on the Hubballi police station has been taken very seriously. The people and organisations behind the arson would be identified and dealt with sternly,” Bommai said.

“When I say we will take stern action that involves several types of action . Like in DJ Halli, KJ Halli riots (in Bengaluru in August 2020), we have done taken stern action. We are strengthening the law and in one way it is the ‘Karnataka Model’,” Bommai said.

Karnataka has witnessed communal unrest as well as the targeting of Muslims by right-wing organisations in recent months, clouding the state’s other well-known reputation of being a hub for technology, startups, biotechnology and aerospace among others.

The development come at a time when the police in the state are still probing the violence in Hubballi, about 450 km from Bengaluru.

On April 17, a mob had gathered outside a police station demanding action against the creator of the derogatory post, identified as Abhisheke Hiremath. A police complaint was filed in this regard and Hiremath was arrested.

The crowd then dispersed after police assured action. Later, around midnight, a large number of people started gathering around the police station again, police said, adding that their leaders were summoned to the station and apprised about the action taken so far. However, the mob outside the station started resorting to violence, said police, adding that they damaged some police vehicles and resorted to stone-pelting. Later, the BJP leaders in the state had accused All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader and Muslim cleric Waseem Pathan of instigating the mob to resort to violence.

A day after Hubballi police arrested Pathan in connection with the violence, Karnataka home minister Araga Jnanendra on April 23, without naming anybody, said that many “unseen hands”, including certain organisations were behind the Hubballi clashes. Bommai said that investigations will unearth the connection with other organisations and individuals who were part of the “conspiracy.”

“We have arrested 138 people in the case so far. The investigation is ongoing. We are going through all the evidence to identify if these arrested people, including the political leaders, had any role in instigating violence,” Hubballi police commissioner Labhu Ram had said previously.

Replying to a question in connection with the email threats received by some of the schools having its origins in Pakistan, Bommai said: “There are instances in the past of sitting here and using the IP addresses of Dubai and Saudi Arabia. A thorough investigation has been ordered into the case.”

“The source of the emails and the culprits involved would be identified and if need arises, help would be sought from the concerned countries via the Union external affairs ministry to arrest them. We will go to the bottom of the case and find the culprits,” assured the chief minister.

Bommai also said that the state government will continue to dig deeper into the police sub-inspector recruitment scam in which the involvement of new people has come to the light.

Congress legislator and former minister Priyank Kharge on Saturday released an audio clip related to the police sub-inspector recruitment scam, which purportedly carries a conversation between a selected candidate and a middleman. Kharge had told a press conference that there are allegations that the senior officers will protect the accused as heard in the audio clip.

The Congress had asked the government to either transfer additional director general of police (recruitment) Amrut Paul or send him on leave till the completion of the ongoing inquiry by CID sleuths into the scam.

“Audio, video and new ways of fraud are coming out. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been asked to conduct a thorough investigation. Whoever it is, however influential and smart they may be, the guilty would be arrested and punished,” he said.

On the alleged role of Divya Hanagari not being arrested for her alleged role in the PSI scam, Bommai said that Hanagari’s assets have been seized.