Daijiworld News Network - Mangalore (MB) - Sunday, 6-10 pm
Pics Dayanand Kukkaje
Mangalore, Apr 16: A group of about 30 persons, said to belong to Bajrang Dal, went on a rampage at the Shanti Nilaya hall in the Balmatta Mission Compound on Sunday evening around 3-45 pm, while only women and children had gathered for singing hymns. It was part of the weekly programme between 1 pm and 4 pm every Sunday.
The assailants came under the pretext that proselytizing of other communities was going on there. Such singing activitis have been going on for forty years, a compound resident told Daijiworld after the incident.
He called it a heinous act, since the miscreants locked the doors from inside when only women and children were inside the hall and then started destroying chairs, sound systems, musical instruments, overhead projectors etc.
Initially, a few people entered the place and went around to check what was happening inside. Then all of a sudden a large group entered and began acts of vandalism. An eyewitness told Daijiworld that the group consisted of over 60 to 70 people.
Similar vandalism was committed earlier Saturday, while a prayer meeting was in progress. Superintendent of police B Dayananda who was in Kajoor-Beltangady to be at a minister's programme rushed to the spot around 6 pm. In the meantime DySP D'Souza had already arrived and had taken stock of the situation.
Invenstigations are on to identify the miscreants and nab them.
Also read - same day incident
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