CM Siddaramaiah defends Srikanth Poojari’s arrest, lists other cases booked against him

Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra has set a 48-hour deadline for police to release the man recently arrested in a 1992 case of rioting

Karnataka BJP Siddaramaiah Srikanth Poojary

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took to social media and released the list of 36 people arrested last year in connection with various cases during the drive by the police. (File)

The Karnataka government on Wednesday defended the recent arrest of Srikanth Poojari, whom the Opposition BJP has described as an “elderly kar sevak”, in a 31-year-old rioting case, citing multiple cases filed against him, even as the saffron party protested across the state over the arrest.

Poojari was arrested last week in connection with an incident of arson and rioting that took place in Hubballi ahead of the Babri Masjid demolition at Ayodhya in 1992.

Also read | As BJP seeks K’taka governor’s intervention, Siddaramaiah says national party shouldn’t defend ‘criminal suspect’

According to the chief minister’s office, apart from arson and rioting, Poojari was an accused in nine cases involving illicit sale of liquor, was kept under preventive arrest thrice and was accused in a gambling case also. His latest arrest was part of a drive to clear long-pending cases, according to the Hubballi-Dharwad police.

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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took to social media and released the list of 36 people arrested last year in connection with various cases during the drive by the police. He also shared a list of cases booked against Poojari since 1992 in different police stations of Hubballi.

Siddaramaiah said the BJP was trying to make political gains by protesting on behalf of a person who is facing several charges. “They should openly admit that their party admits all his criminal acts or withdraw their protest and apologise,” he further wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

After a protest led by state president BY Vijayendra at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, a BJP delegation met Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention in the matter.

Also read | Karnataka row over right-wing activist’s arrest: What is the 31-year-old rioting case all about?

Speaking at the protest, Vijayendra set a 48-hour deadline for the police to release Poojari. If he is not released, workers of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha will storm the police station in Hubballi, he warned.

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