Security was beefed up in Srirangapatna in view of the Hanuma Maladharane procession organised by the Mysuru division of the Hindu Jagarana Vedike, on Thursday.
The area surrounding the Masjid-E-Ala - constructed during the period of Tipu Sultan - was barricaded and it was out of bounds for the public as a precaution.
The measures stemmed from fears and concerns expressed by members of the minority community and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) that there was a conspiracy to vandalise or damage the historic mosque during the event.
In the procession, inflammatory slogans were raised but the strong posse of police ensured that there was no law and order incident. However, three persons, said to be making a video recording of the procession were roughed up by a section of the Vedike members forcing the police to intervene and whisk them away to safety.
Nearly 1,000 policemen, including about 100 in plain clothes who were mingling with the crowd, were deployed as part of the security measure while a few more platoon of the cops were on standby. The security was supervised by Mandya SP N.Yathish and involved 5 DYSPs, 14 units of District Armed Reserve, 5 platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police and one unit of Quick Response Team (QRT).
The security concern was consequent to posters which appeared in the town a few days ago that announced the programme of Hanuma Maladharane but also had an image of the mosque. Though the members of the vedike had claimed that the fears of the SDPI and other leaders was unfounded, the police did not take any chance and their presence was felt at every corner of the town.
The Hanuma Maladharane procession had drawn members of the Hindu Jagaran Vedike and devotees from Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hassan and Madikeri. The procession commenced from Ganjam and passed through the fort and the narrow lanes to reach the venue of the programme near Sriranganathaswamy temple.
Locals said the procession during Hanuman Jayanti was a regular affair but it garnered attention due to the posters and the social media message expressing fears for the safety of the mosque. Hence even the security was stringent compared to earlier years, they added.
The police said the deployment will be in place till the participants return to their respective hometowns.
