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Police ascertaining motive for abduction of MLA’s daughter

Staff Correspondent

Activists, students, teachers hold protests in Mangalore

MLA unhappy that CM is blaming Opposition
“Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sene disturbing peace”

MANGALORE: N. Satheesh Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Dakshina Kannada, said on Saturday that the police were trying to find out if any organisation was behind the abduction of an MLA’s daughter and her friend in Mangalore on Friday. “We are trying to find out the motive for the abduction. We are investigating all aspects,” he said.

Mr. Kumar said five persons were arrested; four from Kerala and one from Mangalore. They were booked under Sections 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty), 504 (intentional insult with the intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code (punishment for criminal intimidation and acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

He said the boy, Shabeeb, would be brought here from Kasaragod to try and get him to identify the locality and house where he and Shruthi were taken by some persons on Friday. Shruthi failed to identify the locality, he said.

Girl attends exam

Shruthi, a II PU student of St. Aloysius College here and daughter of CPI(M) MLA C.H. Kunhambu, who represents Manjeshwar constituency of Kerala, told The Hindu over phone from her residence in Kasaragod that three men entered the bus in which she and Shabeeb were travelling and dragged them out.

They were taken in an autorickshaw to a place not known to her, with a few men following the vehicle in bikes. After a 20-25-minutes ride, the vehicle was stopped on a muddy road where there were a few houses. More than 10 youths gathered there. “They told me that I should not talk even to a Hindu boy, let alone a Muslim.”

“I told them that I am from Kerala and that I have an examination to attend and pleaded with them to let us go. They released me and asked me to go back in the autorickshaw.” The men continued to assault Shabeeb.

She then reached the house of a family friend, where her father too arrived. Later she lodged a complaint with the police in the presence of her father.

Shruthi said she was “quite disturbed,” but was able to control “my emotions” and attend Physics practicals on Saturday.

“Many such incidents”

Mr. Kunhambu told The Hindu that he was not happy with the action being taken by the government. He said the crew of the bus his daughter and her friend were travelling in had not been arrested. He alleged that the crew had passed on the information, following which the abduction took place.

He said there had been spurt of such incidents in Mangalore after the BJP came to power in Karnataka and the recent pub incident and the one involving his daughter were just two in the series.

Mr. Kunhambu was unhappy that Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa chose to blame the Opposition parties for the incident.

Mr. Yeddyurappa reportedly said the Opposition parties had done this keeping the coming Lok Sabha elections in mind.

Protests in Mangalore

Students and teachers of the St. Aloysius Pre-University College staged a protest on the college premises on Saturday, condemning the incident.

Addressing the gathering, President of the Federation of University and College Teachers’ Associations in Karnataka A.M. Narahari demanded that those responsible for Friday’s incident be booked under the Goonda Act.

Speaking to presspersons later, acting principal of the college Anil Mascarenhas said Shruthi was a decent and model girl. She appeared for a practical examination in the college on Saturday and later left for Kasaragod with her father. “Though she appeared nervous, she took the examination confidently,” he said.

Activists of ‘Samudaya,’ a social group, staged a protest in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Saturday condemning the incident.

Secretary of the Dakshina Kannada unit of the group Vasudev Uchhil alleged that Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sene activists were disturbing peace in the city. The government should take action against such groups, he said.

CBI probe sought

Addressing journalists here on Saturday, member of the State unit of the CPI (M) G.N. Nagaraj condemned the incident.

He demanded that the State government hand over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

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