Mangalore: Rama Sene Vandalizes Office of Kannada Fortnightly, Five Arrested

Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (PS)

Update: 10.30 pm

Mangalore, Mar 17: Bunder police have reportedly arrested five of the six Rama Sene activists who barged into the office of a Kannada fortnightly here on Saturday March 17 and damaged its property.

However, the police did not divulge the identities of the activists or any other detail regarding the arrest.

Earlier News

A group of six men, who claimed to be activists of Rama Sene, barged into a Kannada tabloid office at K S Rao Road here on Saturday March 17 and damaged property.

The incident occured at around 12.45 pm, when the group, angered over an article against Rama Sene published by fortnightly Karavali Maruta, stormed into its office and broke furniture and glass panes.

The fortnightly, with Sudesh Kumar as its editor, published an article on Rama Sene in its latest issue, stating that the group had become weak and that many of its members and prominent leaders had quit lately. The group was losing its popularity, the paper claimed.

Offended at these remarks, the group targetted the paper's office. Ironically, one of the Rama Sene activists injured himself while trying to break the glass with bare hands. His blood stains were visible in the ground floor and on the road, which indicated that he must have escaped on a bike. The group was reportedly unarmed, but they did manage to damage the office property including computers and files.

A complaint was later lodged at Mangalore north police station by Sudesh Kumar. In his complaint he stated that his office had incurred a loss of Rs 35,000 in the attack.

Sources said that prior to the attack on Saturday, Dattatreya Hegde, the sub-editor of the paper, had received threat calls of a possible Rama Sene attack.

Rama Sene leaders Prasad Attavar and Kumar Malemar were not available for comment, when Daijiworld tried to contact them.