Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Nov 28: The department of home has admitted that five to six thousand people from other places including Kerala had come to participate in Tipu Jayanti organized at Madikeri earlier in the month. It may be recalled that law and order problem was created because of friction between people celebrating the occasion and those against it, and a Hindu activist, Kuttappa, was killed.

State home minister, G Parameshwar, gave the above information in his written reply to discussions on law and order situation. He said people under the banners of Tipu Fans Association, Socialist Democratic Party of India, and Popular Front of India had participated in the procession organized on the occasion of Tipu Jayanti.

Several leaders of Hindu outfits were protesting at General Thimmaiah Circle in the town against the celebrations, by wearing black badges. Verbal friction between the two groups had taken an ugly turn, followed by pelting of stones. The minister informed the legislative council that after the situation worsened, prohibitory order was clamped, tear gas shells were burst, light lathi charge was resorted to and the crowd was dispersed.