Mangaluru: Surathkal, Katipalla and surrounding areas limped back to normalcy on Friday. Tension prevailed in the region following the murder of BJP member Deepak Rao on January 3. No untoward incidents were reported in the last 24 hours.

Police has been on high alert and as part of security, 18 KSRP, 10 CAR, 6 DAR platoons, 300 police personnel from Tumakuru, Udupi and Kodagu districts have been deployed in Surathkal. Senior police officers are camping in the region and are monitoring the situation.

Mangaluru MLA Mohiuddin Bava visited the house of Deepak Rao at Katipalla on Friday and faced the wrath of the family members. The family members took him to task for not taking part in the funeral on Thursday and sought to know why he visited the house now.

Though Bava tried to convince the family members that the police had asked him not to visit citing a law and order crisis, the family members remained unconvinced.

When he tried to offer a cheque for Rs 5 lakh from his personal account, the family refused to seek any help from him.

The district administration had given a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin (including Rs 5 lakh from CM’s relief fund).

Members of BJP and Hindu organisations staged a road block at Besant Circle in Mangaluru to protest against the murder of Deepak Rao on Friday. They shouted slogans against the state government and demanded the resignation of ministers Ramanath Rai and U T Khader.

Addressing protesters, VHP leader Prof M B Puranik said that, “Hindu activists are being murdered in the last four-and-a-half years. Muslim organisations are directly responsible for such murders. The Chief Minister is engaged in appeasing members of the Muslim community for vote bank politics. Deepak Rao was innocent and he was the only breadwinner of his family.”

The protesters were arrested and later released by the police.