After spending 13 days in prison, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike President T.A. Narayana Gowda was released on bail in two cases on Wednesday.
Mr. Gowda was arrested on December 27, 2023, in a case connected to a protest rally against non-Kannada signboards that degenerated into vandalism. He was released on bail in that case on Tuesday, when K.S. Layout Police re-arrested him, executing a non-bailable warrant pending against him in a case booked against him in 2017.
The court remanded him in judicial custody posting the bail hearing to Wednesday. Though the hearing was conducted through video conference and granted bail, the Halasuru gate police waiting outside the prison arrested him again in another old case that dates back to 2020 and took him to the court amidst tight security on Wednesday.
He was produced before the court and released on conditional bail, asking him to cooperate with the investigations. As many as 11 cases have been filed against Narayana Gowda and his associates for violent protests against non-Kannada sign boards across the city on December 27, 2023. Mr. Gowda has been arrested and released on bail in only one of these cases, and his name figures in at least two other FIRs under which he could possibly be arrested.
Mr. Gowda and 28 others were arrested by northeast division police on December 27 on the charges of sections 283 (cause danger, obstruction or injury to any person), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 427 (mischief), 341 (wrongful restraint), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code.
