Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod (SP)

Kasargod, Apr 8: The bandh call given by the BJP on Saturday April 8 to register protest against the incident in which a youth in police custody breathed his last, has got total response.

Buses are off the roads, and shops and establishments in and around the town including the outskirts have downed their shutters. Only a few private vehicles are moving about. The Hartal will be on between 6 am to 6 pm today.

The police have taken all necessary steps to ensure that no untoward incident takes place on account of hartal.

Passengers arriving in the town faced lot of inconveniences as buses and vehicles are not available. A large number of passengers who arrived in trains came to know about the bandh call only after reaching here. They faced lot of hardships for want of vehicles to reach their destinations. Attendance in government offices has been thin.

Buses moving to the town from Mangaluru and Talapady are returning after reaching Kumble. The people are grappling with various problems as this is the second Hartal they are forced to contend with within a period one week. It may be recalled that on Thursday, UDF and BJP had given call for Hartal to protest against police atrocities on the family members of engineering student, Jishnu Pranoy, who committed suicide on account of harassment at the hands of the college management.

In the meanwhile, postmortem of Sandeep's mortal remains would be held at Pariyaram Medical College Hospital today.

Ajit Kumar, sub-inspector of the town station here, who has been blamed for the death of Sandeep, stands transferred to district armed reserve police force. In his place, assistant sub-inspector, K Ambady, has taken charge. Allegedly, Ajit Kumar tortured Sadeep inside the police jeep.

Deputy superintendent of police of special crime branch, Hasinar, has been asked to conduct investigation into the allegation. He has been asked to file report on the findings within two days.