Sri Ram Sene head Muthalik disowns threats to writers

A day after senior members of his outfit were arrested for threatening to destroy the houses of Kannada writers Chennaveera Kanavi and Giraddi Govindaraj, Sri Rama Sene (SRS) chief Pramod Muthalik on Sunday said the group would not indulge in such acts.

Speaking to The Hindu , he said it was not correct to threaten the writers. “Instead of talking about staging a dharna in front of the writers’ houses, our members wrongly said their houses would be destroyed. When I came to know about it, I immediately told them to withdraw their statements and furnish letters clarifying what they actually meant and they did it.”

No firearms training, only use of airgun and martial arts

While the Sri Rama Sene Raichur district president claimed on Saturday that the group would organise training in firearms for its members, SRS chief Pramod Muthalik denied any such plan.

He claimed that his organisation would conduct only annual “physical training” camps at a particular place. According to him, training will be provided in yoga, karate, surya namaskar, lathi prahar (stick fighting) and use of airgun.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary S.K. Patnaik told The Hindu that the government would crackdown on Sri Rama Sene activists if they were found indulging in illegal and unlawful activities in any parts of the State.

“We will analyse their (Sri Rama Sene) statements, correlate their activities and take action as per law. Sri Rama Sene leaders will not be allowed to take the law into their hands and threaten writers of destroying their houses. We will not allow Sri Rama Sene or any other activist to create public disorder. Nobody is above the law,” Mr. Patnaik said.

Raichur Superintendent of Police Chetan Singh Rathore too made it clear that “Except government security forces, no others can organise firearm training under law. If anybody breaks the law by doing it secretly, we will take strict legal action.”