Investigations by the Halasuru Gate police are said to have so far revealed that Hindi film songs — and not bhajans — were being played at Mukesh's shop on Jumma Masjid Road.
The BJP protest in Bengaluru on Tuesday, 19 March, 2024. (Supplied)
The Halasuru Gate police in Bengaluru on Wednesday, 20 March, registered an FIR against the Union minister Shobha Karandlaje, Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, and at least 40 others.
They have been booked for protesting without obtaining permission. Specifically, they have been booked under Sections 143 and 149 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant), 283 (danger or obstruction in a public way or line of navigation), and 268 and 290 (public nuisance) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Police Inspector Hanamantha K Bhajantri of the Halasuru Gate Police Station.
In all, 43 people have been identified by name as accused in the case. The 44th accused simply says “others”, giving rise to the possibility that more names may be added to the list of the accused.
The protesters were on Tuesday demanding the arrest of all the accused who had attacked shop-owner Mukesh, claiming he was attacked for playing bhajans at his shop during Azaan time.
The 26-year-old Mukesh, the owner of Krishna Telecom, has also been booked. The BJP leaders made him stand next to them as a show of solidarity as they protested on Tuesday.
The Central Division of the Bengaluru City Police booked all the BJP leaders and party workers who participated in the protest rally organised on Tuesday without permission from the authorities.
There is also a high court order against staging protests on any roads in the city except for Freedom Park and a select few places in the city, and even here one has to obtain prior permission from the authorities.
The without-permission protests also took place when the Model Code of Conduct for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections had come into effect.
The Halasuru Gate PI, in his complaint, stated that the BJP leaders along with more than 200 supporters staged a flash protest and blocked roads in and around Siddanna Lane in the Nagarathpete locality from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm.
He added that they created a nuisance for the members of the general public by using loudspeakers and holding saffron flags while shouting slogans, demanding the arrest of all the accused in the attempted-murder case registered earlier against five persons.
Three of the prime accused were arrested on Monday, the day after the alleged attack. Two others were arrested on Tuesday, when the protests were carried out without permission.
The city police revealed the identities of the arrested. Two of them — Suleiman and Shahnavaz — belonged to a minority community. The three others — Rohith, Dyanish, and Tarun — were Hindu.
This led to a hue and cry from the victim’s side, with people claiming the police had falsely implicated three Hindu youths in the case. They also demanded the arrest of people from the minority community.
The police deployed for security duty on Tuesday tried to convince the agitators that they were violating the high court’s orders against staging protests on certain roads and had also not obtained permission, but in vain.
The accused leaders and party workers allegedly blocked the road for three hours, causing inconvenience to the public and also posing a threat to law and order, Bhajantri mentioned in his complaint.
Investigations by the Halasuru Gate police are said to have so far revealed that Hindi film songs — and not bhajans — were being played at Mukesh’s mobile and computer servicing shop on Jumma Masjid Road.
“Inquiries and the statements recorded from the arrested accused so far have revealed that the songs played at Mukesh’s shop were Hindi film songs and not Hanuman Chalisa,” said a senior police officer privy to the investigation.
Mukesh was playing Hindi film songs to attract customers when the miscreants observed that and picked up a quarrel with him, said the cops.
“It is true that they (miscreants) argued why he was playing the Hindi songs so loudly during Azaan time, but Mukesh was not playing Hanuman Chalisa at that time,” said the officer.
He added that the heated arguments soon escalated into a physical attack when one of the miscreants assaulted Mukesh.
It should be noted that neither Mukesh nor his brother Arjun Kumar mentioned the Hanuman Chalisa or bhajans in their complaint to the police.
Mukesh said he was playing songs at his shop when the miscreants took objection and assaulted him.
However, when South First spoke to Mukesh, he said he had recorded his statement that he was playing bhajans of Hanuman Chalisa at his shop.
He added that he had witnesses who were ready to testify on this before the police and in court.
Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje was slapped with a case on Thursday after Karnataka Election Commission (KEC) officials filed a formal complaint with the Bengaluru City Police.
The KEC officials alleged that the minister violated norms and rules under the Representation of the People (RP) Act.
Based on a complaint from flying squad team head Shivaraju MN (51), the Cottonpete Police Station registered an FIR booking Karandlaje under Sections 123(3A) (promotion of, or attempt to promote, feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of the citizens of India on grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or language, by a candidate or his agent or any other person with the consent of a candidate or his election agent for the furtherance of the prospects of the election of that candidate or for prejudicially affecting the election of any candidate), 123(3) (disallowing of the usage of religion, race, caste, community, or language in order to promote enmity or hatred among the people and use of it as a political tool) and 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the RP Act.
Karandlaje, taking part in a protest rally in Bengaluru on Tuesday, criticising the Congress government in Karnataka.
While doing so, she exclaimed that people had shouted “Pakistan Zindabad” at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru and no case was registered for about a week.
“Then, people come from Tamil Nadu. They get trained there and place bombs here. They planted bombs in the cafe. After that, another person comes from Kerala and hurls acid at three of our women students,” Karandlaje told reporters that day.
She added: “The Congress is doing nothing about it. Now, whoever recites or even plays the Hanuman Chalisa is being beaten up. This Congress is only doing vote-bank politics.”
Karandlaje’s bomb jab was in connection with the Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru. The National Investigating Agency (NIA) assisted by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials are probing the case, with an eye on suspected ISIS modules in Karnataka.
Karandlaje is the BJP candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024 from the Bangalore North constituency.
Her remarks sparked outrage on social media platforms, with netizens condemning her for “hatemongering” and baselessly implicating Tamil Nadu in the bomb blast case when neither the NIA nor the CCB had any evidence regarding the origins of the perpetrators.
DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin vehemently denounced Karandlaje’s statement as reckless. He urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take decisive action against her for hate speech.
The DMK’s complaint was forwarded by the ECI to the KEC on Wednesday to initiate action against the Union minister.
Meanwhile, an FIR has also been registered against former BJP national general secretary CT Ravi over his social media post
He has been booked for allegedly promoting enmity on the grounds of religion, among others, according to the KEC.
“Dear Hindus, CONgress co-owner Rahul Gandi has declared war against us Hindus. It is high time we unite to protest and defend Sanatana Dharma from those who are out to destroy it,” the former Karnataka minister posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
Taking cognizance of it, the KEC initiated action against CT Ravi as per the prescribed guidelines of the Model Code of Conduct, the poll body said.
The Chikkamagaluru district election officer filed a complaint against Ravi at the Chikkamagaluru Town Police Station under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) of the IPC and Section 126 of the RP Act.
Reacting to the FIR, Ravi said on X: “I have received the details of the FIR filed against me by CONgress. As a Sanatani, I responded to the irresponsible and insensitive comments made by CONgress MP Rahul Gandhi.” He said he would greatly appreciate it if the EC could share the details of the FIR lodged against the former Congress President for his statements hurting the sentiments of those who follow ‘Sanatana Dharma.”
Dear @ECISVEEP,
I have received the details of the FIR filed against me by CONgress.
As a Sanatani, I responded to the irresponsible and insensitive comments made by CONgress MP Rahul Gandhi.
I would greatly appreciate if you could share the details of the FIR lodged against… pic.twitter.com/xoRjbkG446
— C T Ravi 🇮🇳 ಸಿ ಟಿ ರವಿ (Modi Ka Parivar) (@CTRavi_BJP) March 21, 2024
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