Tension prevails in Kasaragod on Saturday following defilement of a place of worship at nearby Meepuguri by unidentified persons as the district administration clamped prohibitory orders in the Kasaragod Taluk limits for a week.
The prohibitory orders were clamped by District Collector V. N. Jithendran in the Taluk area limits under section 144 of the Cr. PC for a week barring people from assembling in group, carrying arms, or holding rallies in the town and adjoining areas falling under the taluk limits, a senior police official here said.
People have been prohibited from riding in motorbikes from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. till the prohibitory orders are in force.
Additional police forces, requisitioned form Kozhikode and Kannur districts have been deployed in vulnerable areas as the personnel are carrying out intensive patrolling in the sensitive localities.
Reports here said that a few houses in the Choori locality came under stone pelting by miscreants as police carried out preventive arrests since last night. While vehicular movements towards the temple town of Madhur was suspended following a day long hartal in the village after the place of worship was defiled in the wee hours on Saturday.
The trouble sparked off after some unidentified masked men inflicted stab wounds injuring four persons, with one of them sustaining grievous injuries at Pallam locality here last evening. The man was rushed to a hospital in Mangalore where his condition was reported to be stable.
The tension triggered after some unidentified persons defiled the Durga Parameshwari temple at Meepugiri.
In view of the tension, vehicles plying in sensitive localities kept off the roads. However, normal life by and large remained unaffected although people opted not to venture out to the town following signs of unrest in the affected localities.
S. Sreejith, Deputy Inspector General of Police (North), who had been camping here, exhorted the public to maintain restrain and refrain from falling under the trap of rumour mongers.
There had been signs of abatement of sporadic incidents of violence in the affected Madhur village, Mr. Sreejith told reporters at the Town police station here.
S. Surendran, new District Superintendent of Police, who was scheduled have held a press conference was deferred following worsening law and order situation.
