Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network – Bantwal
Bantwal, Feb 27: Residents of Farangipete staged a sudden protest on Thursday morning outside the local police outpost, demanding swift action in the case of a missing boy. Despite several days passing since the disappearance of 17-year-old Diganth, son of Padmanabha from Kidebetu near Farangipete, there has been no breakthrough in the case, prompting local villagers to intensify their agitation.
During the protest, demonstrators issued a stern warning to the police department, demanding that the boy be found within the next 24 hours. They threatened to continue their protest if no progress was made. Additional SP Rajendra held discussions with the protestors regarding their demands.
Following the protest, a meeting was held at the Anjaneya Temple in Farangipete, where villagers decided to observe a complete shutdown (bandh) of all shops and businesses in Farangipete on Saturday, March 1, to press for action. They urged support from various organizations, traders, and residents of six nearby villages to ensure the protest’s success.
Prominent figures present at the meeting included Bharat Kumdelu, Umesh Shetty Barke, Prasad Kumar, Manoj Acharya Nanya, Padmanabha Shetty Kidebetu, Dhanaraj, Chandrashekhar Gambhir, and several others.
Diganth, a second-year PU student at private college in Mangaluru and a resident of Kidebetu near Farangipete, went missing on February 25 after informing his family that he was going to the Anjaneya Temple. Later, his footwear and mobile phone were found abandoned near the railway tracks close to his home.
A case was registered at the Bantwal rural police station. However, protestors alleged that the police failed to take the case seriously, which led them to lay siege to the police outpost in protest.