Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur
Kundapur, Jan 25: Tension prevailed in Kodi once again as clashes broke out over a trivial reason in Halavalli on Sunday January 25.
It is said that a trivial issue snowballed into a major fight. The police swung into action and tried to control the situation, but in vain, as members of both communities began pelting stones at each other. The police had to resort to lathi charge and fire tear gas to control the mob.
In the chaos that ensued, Kundapur SI Naseer Hussain and constable Raju were injured. A youth identified as Pradeep as well as several women too sustained injuries. Injured persons from both communities got admitted to a private hospital in Kundapur.
It is said that some youths of a community were sitting at a petty shop near Kinara bar in Halavalli. At that moment, a group of youths from another community passed by in a vehicle. One of the youths in the vehicle allegedly recorded a video on his mobile phone and held up his finger at the group sitting at the shop. The youths who were at the shop grew angry at this and began hurling abuses at those in the vehicle.
As soon as the police received information, a team led by SI Naseer Hussain rushed to the spot and tried to bring the situation under control. However, things went out of control after a group of youths barged into a nearby house where a wedding was going on and smashed its window panes by pelting stones. After this, there was utter chaos as people of both communities engaged in stone pelting and hurling bottles at each other.
As the things got out of hand, the police resorted to lathi charge but were unable to control the rampaging mob. The police then fired three rounds of tear gas and additional police forces from Amasebail, Shankaranarayana, and other places were called. Two KSRP teams, two DAR and other police personnel were also deployed.
DySP Manjunath Shetty arrived at the spot and conducted investigations. Kundapur circle inspector P M Diwakar, Byndoor circle inspector Sudarshan and Shankaranarayana PSI Dejappa have camped in the area. Kundapur tahsildar Gayatri Nayak also visited the spot.
On January 11, clashes broke out between the two communities at Halavalli near the same spot. Ten were arrested in the case, but all were let out on bail.