FIR registered against six over violence during Panchamasali protest in Belagavi

BELAGAVI: Following the violence that broke out during the Panchamasali protest here on Tuesday which witnessed stone-throwing leading to lathicharge, the police have registered a suo motu FIR against six people in connection with the incident.

This is for the first time that a case has been registered in connection with the Panchamasali agitation. The FIR mentions the names of Ningappa Banada, Ramagouda Fakirgouda, Umesh Ingalewara, Manjunath Bendigeri, Rudragouda and Manjunath Gummagola, who were in the forefront of the protest. More names are likely to be added in the case. In the violence, 17 policemen and nine Panchamasalis had sustained injuries and are undergoing treatment in hospital.

A massive crowd had gathered at Kondasakoppa under the leadership of Koodalasangama Peetha seer Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami to demand reservation for Panchamasalis under 2A category.

Three ministers had arrived at the protest site to hold talk, but when it failed, the seer gave a call to lay siege to the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha where the winter session of the state legislature is on. Thousands of Panchamasalis occupied NH-4 and blocked traffic when some miscreants started hurling footwear at the police and indulged in stone-throwing.

Reacting to the issue, Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami claimed, “Some policemen in civilian clothes themselves indulged in stone-throwing following which we were harassed by the police. So far, no untoward incident had occurred and the police deliberately attacked us on the orders of the CM. I condemn this, from tomorrow, there will be protests in all districts and taluks. Some Panchamasalis were badly injured in the police lathicharge, but I assure their families, there is no need to worry”.