Tension After Desecration of Place of Worship in Chikmagalur

Chikmagalur: Tension prevailed in the early hours of Saturday in the city over the alleged desecration of a place of worship on M G Road. Some miscreants allegedly beheaded a piglet and threw its head into the sacred place. The passage of the shrine was smeared with blood. A religious head, who noticed it in the morning, informed his community about it. The news spread like a wildfire and people assembled at the Hanumanthappa Circle. Youths, wielding cudgel, forced owners of shops to stop the business. Kamadhenu Provision Stores belonging to one Vasant Kumar on M G Road and Mayura Bakery near Thogarihankal Circle were ransacked by unruly mob. Around 500 merchants took out a procession alleging forcible closure of shops and sought police intervention. Some youths were injured in an altercation between the youths of two communities on Nekar Street. JD (S) leaders H H Devaraj, Manjappa and S L Bhoje Gowda appealed to the shopkeepers to cooperate with the bandh and staged a dharna at the Hanumanthappa Circle. Congress leaders D L Vijay Kumar, K Mohammad, BM Sandeep and TD Raje Gowda tried pacifying the enraged youths. Buses plying through the Hanumanthappa Circle were deviated through the bypass road. The community leaders were seen demanding  a silent rally along the road. DC B S Shekarappa visited the spot twice. Finally, the procession was allowed under police bandobast. When the procession reached the Bata showroom on M G Road, the unruly mob started pelting stones. The police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob. In the melee, ASI Sunitha and police constable Jagadeesh were injured. They were taken to hospital for treatment. Except medical shops and services of government conveyance, shops, cinema houses, schools and colleges downed their shutters. Petrol bunks stopped service. The DC issued prohibitory orders under Section 144 banning processions, meetings,  conventions and movement of a crowd of four people carrying weapons between Saturday afternoon and midnight of Sunday. New Indian Express