Karnataka   

Fatal road accident on Ring Road sparks violence, several vehicles damaged

BANGALORE: The death of a 45-year-old man in a road accident triggered violence on the Outer Ring Road, off Magadi Road, in Basaveshwaranagar police station limits on Thursday.

The police had to use canes to disperse a 1,000-strong mob that blocked the road, torched a lorry and smashed the windscreens of 10 BMTC buses and a Hoysala patrol jeep.

Four policemen were injured after they were beaten up by miscreants, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) K.V. Sharathchandra told The Hindu.

Kamakshipalya Inspector G.C. Manjunath and sub-inspector Kallappa, the Basaveshwaranagar sub-inspector Sripada Shastri and constable Beerappa, who were injured in the attack, have been admitted in two private hospitals. A few members of the public were reportedly injured in the stone-throwing.

Mr. Sharathchandra said that around 8.30 a.m. a lorry knocked down Chikkathimmaiah (45), a Bharath Sanchar Nigam Ltd. employee, while he was crossing the Outer Ring Road near Prem Nagar. The driver abandoned the vehicle and fled.

On learning about the death of Mr. Chikkathimmaiah, a resident of Kamalanagar, his relatives and friends arrived there in large numbers. Around 9.15 a.m., hundreds of passers-by, mainly factory workers who were on their way to work, gathered at the accident spot and set the killer lorry on fire. As the traffic policemen shifted Chikkathimmaiah’s body to the M.S. Ramaiah Hospital, his relatives vented their anger on the police for not conducting the “panchanama”.

Mr. Sripada Shastri, who was the first to reach the spot, was beaten up by the mob, Mr. Sharathchandra said. Before the reinforcement arrived, the mob stoned around 10 BMTC buses that were stranded following the protest.

The police resorted to lathicharge and dispersed the mob. The Basaveshwaranagar police have registered a case of rioting and arrested 15 persons, he said.

Incidentally, large-scale violence was reported from the same spot in 2005 after an elderly woman was killed in a hit-and-run case.

Residents of Prem Nagar and the neighbouring Chowdeshwarinagar had staged a protest seeking better facilities for pedestrians on the Outer Ring Road, which connects Sumanahalli junction on Magadi Road and the Kanteerava Studios.

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