Police have arrested eight Hindu Jagarana Vedike members in connection with Saturday’s attack on a group of young men and women partying at Morning Mist homestay here.
They have also registered an FIR against two journalists from local cable channels, who got prior information on the “raid”, but did not alert the police. The attack evoked condemnation from various sections of society.
Strongly criticising the attack, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said stringent action would be taken against the culprits. Terming it a ‘Taliban style attack’, District In-charge Minister C T Ravi said the government would take all steps to prevent such incidents in future.
The police have promulgated prohibitory orders for three days. However, KPCC members staged a dharna near the MCC building on Sunday, demanding the arrest of all the attackers.
The eight arrested were: Subhash, Tharanath, Rajesh, Ganesh, Tharanath B, Sandip Shetty, Venugopal and Sharath from Padil. Subhash, who led the group, said they wanted to protest against “unlawful activities” in the resort, but some of his group members assaulted the girls.
However, HJV convenor Jagadish Karanth said the organisation was not responsible for the raid.
ADGP Bipin Gopalkrishna said the police were viewing the attack seriously. “Police found food items, soft drinks and beer bottles, and not drugs there,” he said.
Mangalore Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said, “We are yet to check whether the arrested were involved in any previous incidents like the 2009 attack on Amnesia pub.”
Vijay Kumar, a DJ, one among those assaulted, said he was celebrating his birthday at the resort. “As another friend, Sanjana, was also celebrating her birthday and she had invited her friends there,” he said. Vijay said the vigilante group barged into the homestay and attacked them. “The girls who were in a separate room were going to leave before 7 pm,” he said.
The case is still pending in lower courts.Then IGP A M Prasad had promised to register cases against the vigilantes under the Goonda Act but that did not happen.
In 2001, the Bajarang dal activists raided a rave party at Maharani farmhouse in Ullal and assaulted party-goers — students pursuing degrees in different professional colleges. The police then also had promised to register cases under the Goonda Act but did not do so. The accused, including the leader Sharan Pumpwell, succeeded in securing bail. Senior police officials told Express that the Goonda Act was applicable only to habitual offenders.
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