The general secretary of the Advocates Association, Bangalore, and member of the Janata Dal (S) legal cell, A.P. Ranganath, was arrested along with three of his colleagues by the city police on Saturday in connection with the violence unleashed by lawyers at the City Civil Court complex on Friday.
Announcing the arrests at a press conference here on Saturday, Police Commissioner B.G. Jyothi Prakash Mirji identified the other three arrested advocates as Somesh, Arun Nayak and Santosh. Mr. Mirji clarified that the arrests were not politically motivated and had nothing to do with the fact that those arrested were closely associated with the JD(S).
Listing the damage caused during the violence on Friday, Mr. Mirji said that 57 police personnel were injured and 31 cases had been registered by members of the public as well as journalists against lawyers at the Ulsoor Gate police station. One of these cases was registered by M.S. Jagadishaiah, the driver of High Court judge K.L. Manjunath, alleging that he was waylaid by rioters and robbed of gold ornaments, Rs. 1,900 and two mobile phones.
Amid reports that more advocates had been detained by the police, sources said that a list of 25 advocates suspected to be behind the violence had been prepared after police sentries and court staff identified them from photographs and footage of the violence. Efforts were on to trace the whereabouts of these persons, said police sources.
Earlier in the day, journalists took out a protest march from the Press Club of Bangalore to the Gandhi statue on M.G. Road. A delegation of senior journalists met Governor H.R. Bhardwaj and submitted a memorandum.
To abstain from court
The Karnataka State Bar Council and the Advocates Association, Bangalore, resolved on Saturday to abstain from court proceedings across the State on Monday.
