Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (TU/CN)

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Mangalore, Oct 17: Justice M F Saldanha, head of the People’s Tribunal, said on Thursday October 16, that police who had suffered injuries during the recent clashes in the district did not support the ongoing enquiry being headed by him.

Addressing the media after a second round of investigation, Justice Saldanha said, ‘I have sent SMSes to the police to appear before the Tribunal for enquiry. But none of them have co-operated. The investigation has taken three weeks of minute and painstaking research. We have interviewed hundreds of citizens in our quest for the truth. We have been working simultaneously on the remaining cases and the findings will be presented under individual heads’.

He said that the attack on the Adoration Monastery was a premeditated, deliberate, assault professionally executed, and further added that the entire operation was monitored and supervised. Justice Saldanha alleged that the attack was not an accident as claimed in the press by the Bajarang Dal chief, but was an integral part of the master plan to attack Christian religious centres.

‘The most serious aspect of the case is that this was a hate crime directed against the most sacred symbols of Christianity—a virtual stab at the heart of the Christian community,’ he said. Later, Saldanha paid a visit to the hospital to speak to Herald D’Souza, resident of Kairangala, who was admitted to the hospital after allegedly being harassed by the Konaje police on Tuesday October 14.
 
PB D’Sa, district president, PUCL, and Suresh Bhat Bakrabail, columnist, were present on the occasion.

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