Communal tension prevailed at two places in Karnataka, at Mulbagal in Kolar district in the South and Nuggikeri in Dharwad district in the North, on Saturday. While tension in Mulbagal surrounded the disruption of a Ramanavami procession late on Friday, in Nuggikeri it was over a few non-Hindu vendors being evicted from temple premises.
Prohibitory orders were imposed for three days on Mulbagal after a stone-pelting incident during the Ramanavami procession on Friday.
“The procession was supposed to pass through the circle much earlier, but was delayed due to various reasons. However, someone had switched off the power supply in and around the circle when the procession was passing through. This led to the stone-pelting incident and escalated the situation,” a senior police officer said .
Several shops were damaged and a few bikes were set on fire in the incident. A police vehicle was also damaged . The police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd and brought the situation under control, a senior police officer said.
The police are now investigating to identify the people involved in the incident through CCTV and mobile records. Six people have been detained so far.
As a precautionary measure, security has been tightened in sensitive areas and permission for the procession has been cancelled . However, there are no restrictions for the upcoming Ramanavami celebration at Avani, the police said.
On the other hand, tension prevailed for some time at the Nuggikeri Hanuman temple located on the outskirts of Dharwad city on Saturday after Sri Ram Sene activists ransacked fruits and flower stalls of Muslim vendors.
A few days ago, Sri Ram Sene had urged the Nuggikeri Hanuman temple management to evict non-Hindu vendors from the temple premises and threatened to protest if they failed to do so. On Saturday, around 10 members, wearing saffron shawls, ransacked the stalls owned by Muslim vendors who were selling fruits, flowers, and other materials. Before the police arrived at the scene, the miscreants escaped.
One of the vendors, Nabisab, who has been doing business on the temple premises for the past 15 years, said he had bought six quintals of watermelon in anticipation of good business. “They took away the fruits, threw them on the road and ransacked the stall,” he said.
Meanwhile, the temple management committee members said that the space was provided to poor vendors for sale of fruits, flowers, vegetables, and puja items. Following Saturday’s incident, the committee members said the issue would be discussed shortly with all concerned and further decision would be taken.
