High drama in Dharwad before Vinay Kulkarni’s arrest

As the gathering grew in numbers, the police stepped up security with additional deployment of personnel as a precautionary measure

Congress supporters and followers of the former Minister Vinay Kulkarni gathered in large number outside the Dharwad Suburban Police Station when he was being questioned on Thursday.

Being a place where Congress leader Vinay Kulkarni was grilled for close to 10 hours, the Dharwad Suburban Police Station premises witnessed protests and high drama through the day on Thursday, before the arrest of the former Minister.

People started gathering outside the Suburban Police Station soon after news about the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) taking Vinay Kulkarni into custody spread. With a section of the media reporting the arrest early in the day itself, the gathering started swelling as the day passed with more Congress supporters and followers of Mr. Kulkarni joining in. Soon the police cordoned off the area as a precautionary measure. With the arrival of Congress leaders, including MLC Srinivas Mane, district Congress office-bearers Anilkumar Patil, Deepa Nagaraj Gouri and several others, the gathering started raising slogans against the BJP government accusing the district BJP leaders of indulging in political vendetta.

While the CBI sleuths continued grilling the former Minister and his brother Vijay Kulkarni and a few more close aides of theirs, the crowd started getting impatient and raised slogans at regular intervals.

The protesting Congress members accused Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi and Minister for Large and Medium Industries Jagadish Shettar of trying to “finish off” Mr. Kulkarni’s political career by falsely implicating him in a murder case.

Mr. Srinivas Mane and Mr. Anilkumar Patil said that the ruling disposition was trying to malign the former Minister and that the arrest was politically motivated.

As the number grew, the police stepped up security with additional deployment of personnel as a precautionary measure. Several members of the Mahila Congress wore black badges and staged demonstration outside the Suburban Police Station to condemn the development.

Meanwhile, Mallamma, wife of Yogeeshgouda Goudar, told presspersons that she was satisfied with the way the CBI investigation was progressing and hoped that the truth would come out soon. Ms. Mallamma joined Congress after she lost the Zilla Panchayat election which she contested on BJP ticket. She too was questioned by CBI sleuths in Dharwad for several hours last month.