Surathkal limping back to normalcy; people hail cops’ presence of mind

Mangaluru, Jan 5: Thanks to the presence of mind exhibited by the police on Thursday when the saffron outfits had planned to take out a funeral procession of Deepak Rao in the city amidst prohibitory orders the communally sensitive Surathkal-Katipalla region is slowly limping back to the normalcy.

The police aborted the planned procession by secretly shifting the dead body of Deepak in an ambulance from AJ Hospital in the city to his home in Katipalla, around 15 kilometers from here. Funeral processions of murder victims had exacerbated communal tensions in region in the past.

Local residents took to the social media to thank the police for not providing an opportunity to the riot mongers to disrupt peace in the region. The opined that if the police had failed to stop the procession in the city, the trouble mongers would have tried to create a communal riot.

It may be recalled untoward incidents were reported during funeral RSS member Sharath Madivala, who was hacked to death in July. This led to arrest of several leaders of right-wing organization. Even in 2006, the funeral procession of murdered BJP leader Sukhananda Shetty (38) had sparked off violence in Mulki town and two people were killed and a couple injured when police open fired to quell the mob attacking the Mulki police station.

On Thursday, the VHP, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Jagaran Vedike and BJP leaders were planning a similar funeral procession for Deepak Rao from A J Hospital to Surathkal. But before they could arrive, the police shifted Rao's body to his residence from the rear entrance of the hospital.

Soon, all the leaders rushed to Rao's residence at Janata Colony in Surathkal and demanded the body be taken back to the hospital and brought home in a procession. The protesters demanded Rs 50 lakh compensation to Rao's kin. They also wanted a ban on PFI and SDPI and refused to take Rao's body from the ambulance till their demands were met. However, Deputy Commissioner C Sasikanth Senthil managed to convince the aggrieved family members and saffron outfits to conduct the funeral rites peacefully.