Karwar: A letter from AIGP Shivaprakash Devaraju to police commissioners of Mangaluru and Belagavi and 20 other superintendents of police of different districts, including Uttara Kannada, has triggered a political furore.
In the letter and a reminder dated December 22, 2017 and January 2, 2018 respectively, Devaraju had sought the opinion of police commissioners and SPs of different districts about the withdrawal of cases against ‘innocent’ persons belonging to a minority community. These persons had allegedly participated in communal riots between 2013 and 2017.
In another letter written on Thursday, the AIGP asked SPs to immediately let him know their opinion on the issue.
This has irked BJP and other Hindu organisations in Uttara Kannada district which witnessed widespread communal riots last December after the suspicious death of Paresh Mesta. Those accused of allegedly killing Paresh are still at large.
KG Naik, district president, BJP alleged that police had arrested innocent Hindus during the last communal riots in the district. “If they want to release innocent people, they should withdraw cases against Hindus too. We’ll intensify the agitation for harassing innocent Hindus and withdrawing cases against a particular community,” he said.