Mob pelts stones at Channagiri police station, damages vehicles after man dies in custody

DAVANAGERE: A mob pelted stones at the Channagiri police station, overturned a police jeep and left 11 police personnel injured after a man accused of organising matka (gambling) died in police custody, on Friday night. Two police officers have since been suspended.

The mob outside the police station; (right) a police officer attempts to pacify the crowd.

The Channagiri police had picked up Adil on charges of organising matka, but he died while in their custody. Following Adil’s death, his family members and relatives staged a protest in front of the police station. Even as the family members were filing a compaint inside the police station, a mob which had gathered outside suddenly started pelting stones and overturned a police vehicle. The policemen were left helpless in the face of the angry mob.

Law and order in Karnataka has become a thing of the past since Congress took over the state. Appeasement politics is on the rise, giving radicals a free rein to pelt stones at police stations, burn them down, attack police personnel, and ransack police vehicles. Despite these… pic.twitter.com/wR0dLN0G2X

— Vijayendra Yediyurappa (Modi Ka Parivar) (@BYVijayendra) May 25, 2024

Police say that Adil’s blood pressure dropped and he collapsed. They then took him to the taluk hospital where he died. In the violence that followed his death, more than 10 vehicles and 11 policemen were injured. Four cases have been registered in connection with the incident.

It is alleged that some miscreants had planned a repeat of the DJ Halli-KJ Halli incident in Bengaluru. Hundreds of people from Nallur, Kerebilachi, Honnebagi and other parts had gathered in front of the police station. The police are now scouring through CCTV and mobile phone footage to identify the culprits.

Policemen putting an overturned jeep back on its wheels.

The post-mortem examination of Adil was performed in the presence of a magistrate and handed over to the family for the last rites on Saturday. His wife Heena Khaiser Banu demanded justice and alleged that the police had taken Adil elsewhere and beaten him to death.

While admitting that Adil would organise matka, she accused the police of extorting him of money every month. If he failed to pay, policemen in civilian clothes would visit the house and take him away. “On Friday evening too, they took him away to an undisclosed place and beat him to death”, she alleged.

Shockingly, MLA Shivaganga Basavaraj, who called on the family and consoled Adil’s father Kalimullah, seemed to justify the stone pelting saying that people vented out anger over the loss of a life. “Nothing like DJ Halli-KJ Halli has happened, the law and order situation here is peaceful”, he claimed.

Police Superintendent Uma Prashant said they are going through video evidence to track the culprits.

Police Superintendent Uma Prashant told Public TV, “Adil was in the police station for barely 5-6 minutes. After he collapsed, he was immediately shifted to a hospital, but he had died. The father of the deceased has lodged a complaint of unnatural death and a detailed investigation will be conducted”.

Regarding the mob which had gathered in front of the police station and indulged in violence, the SP said, “We have filed four FIRs in connection with the damage to the police station, vehicles and other articles. We will first identify the culprits and take action”.