Sri Rama Sene plans protest after police register case against assaulted activists in Chikkodi village

CHIKKODI: The Sri Rama Sene has decided to hold a ‘Ingali Chalo’ protest to condemn the registering of a suo motu case by the Yamakanmaradi police against its activists after they attempted to stop alleged cattle smuggling in Ingali village.

Five activists were tied to a tree and thrashed with sticks, kicked and beaten by a group of men after they stopped a truck carrying cattle. The activists have been admitted to the Hukkeri taluk hospital. The attackers, Shivaputrappa Sanadi, Babajan Multani and others have been arrested and produced before a court which remanded them to judicial custody.

One of the accused, Shivaputra Sanadi, told Public TV that the activists had demanded Rs 1 lakh to release the cattle and added that they had attacked some women of the family. However, the Sri Rama Sene activists have denied the allegations and said they only questioned why the cattle were being transported. They also demanded a truth serum test on the accused.

Mahaveer Sollapure has been externed from Hukkeri taluk.

Based on the statement of the accused, an FIR was also filed against Sri Rama Sene activists Maruthi Bennadi, Mahaveer Sollapure, Vittal Hegde and two others. Based on the videos of the assault, the police are looking for Mahaveer Sollapure, who is believed to have been earlier externed from Hukkeri.

Police Superintendent Bhimashankar Guled said the activists barged into Babasab Multani’s house suspecting that he was transporting cattle illegally. “The activists have now given a written statement that there was no illegal transportation of cattle. When they barged into the house, the villagers tied them up to a tree and assaulted them. Babasab Multali has said he purchased the cattle at a fair as he is into dairy farming and has produced documents”.