Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi/Kundapur (UM/RJP)
Udupi/Kundapur, Apr 9: The police have arrested six more persons in the case relating to the murder attempt on deputy commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis, assistant commissioner Shilpa Nag and others during a raid on illegal sand mining in Kandlur on April 2.
The arrested have been identified as Shakur (48), Arafath (23), Fayaz Ahmed (22), Yasin (20), Mohsin (23) and Raghavendra Achar (36). They were arrested from a marriage hall, sources said.
With this, the total number of arrests in the case have gone up to 21.
However, on Sunday April 9, relatives of the arrested and other locals gathered at the Udupi police station and staged a flash protest, alleging that the police had arrested innocents in the case.
Meanwhile, in Kundapur too, women staged separate protests at the town police station on Saturday April 8 and Kandlur police station on Sunday April 9, alleging that real culprits had been spared and innocents had been arrested in the case.
"The culprits are moving without any fear while the innocents are in police cells," protestors said in Kundapur.
"Some of the arrested persons had come on leave from foreign countries to attend a wedding. When they were returning from the wedding, they were arrested. Real culprits have paid money to the police and hence they are spared. Out of the 27 arrested, only 2 have committed the crime. All others are innocent. They should be released," they demanded.
However, police said that no innocents had been arrested.
In Kandlur, the women protestors said they would protest till they get justice. "How should we eat if the breadwinners are sent to jail? We will protest till we get justice. If anything happens to us, police are responsible," they said.
Arguments
Arguments took place between the police and the protestors when the latter insisted that the former took money to let culprits go scot free.
Sub-inspector Nasir Hussain tried to pacify them, but the protestors kept their demand for justice. Nasir Hussain told them that it was pointless to protest at this station regarding the matter. The protestors then listened to him and wrote a letter of appeal addressing the DC and handed over to him. "If no suitable action is taken, we will intensify our protest and extend it to the entire district," they said.
The protestors said that they have also complained to district in-charge minister Pramod Madhwaraj regarding the case.