The Rights new culture vulture cuts his teeth

But it was the pub attack case in Mangalore on January 24,involving the assault of women in the name of Indian culture and tradition,by men from the Sri Rama Sene that truly brought the group into the spotlight. Muthaliks justification of the attacks also gave him unprecedented publicity.

Long associated with the Sangh Parivar,Muthalik has been a grassroots RSS man,a former member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal. In fact,he was the state convenor of the Bajrang Dal until 2004 and managed to build up quite a following with his vitriolic speeches.

Muthalik also managed to build up an equally impressive list of charges against him. When he was produced in a Mangalore court on Thursday in connection with the pub attack case,the Karnataka government presented a document to support the case against bail being granted to Muthalik saying 29 cases were still pending against him.

The incendiary leader has been in and out of jail for his provocative speeches through the tenures of the Congress and Janata Dal in the state. During his Bajrang days,he was also at the forefront of a Sangh Parivar campaign to gain control over the Sufi Datta Peetha Shrine – shared by Hindus and Muslims at Bababudangiri in Chikmagalur. He had threatened to make the shrine issue the Ayodhya of the South.

Although not much is known about his removal from the Bajrang Dal in 2004,there is speculation that some leaders were threatened by his ambition and prominence in the group. Others believe that his radical rants and methods did not sit too well with the Bajrang Dal who wanted a more nuanced approach.

The story goes that Muthalik left with a core group of followers and began seeking out an association with like-minded people. The first prominent association was with the Shiv Sena from Maharashtra and Muthalik attempted to create a Karnataka wing for the group.

However,with the Shiv Sena taking up the issue of Marathis in Muthaliks border-dispute-affected home district of Belgaum,he was forced to carve an alternate identity for his group calling it the Rashtriya Hindu Sena,and later,the Sri Rama Sene.

Meanwhile,Muthalik is believed to have continued networking with extremist Hindu groups in Maharashtra in an effort to raise a Hindu army to fight fundamentalists from other sections of society. There have been records produced by Muthalik himself that show that his group was involved in training youths to use guns. Where these sessions were held has not been disclosed.

What is clear is that the Sri Rama Sene has slowly built up a following,especially in the districts of Mangalore,Udupi and Chikamagalur police records indicate that as many as 2,000 youths were drawn to the group.

At least three members from Muthaliks outfit have been linked to a blast in a Hubli court and some have possible links to the Malegaon case. In a probable testimony to the elements attracted to the outfit,the three persons were a part of a dacoit gang busted by the Belgaum zone police. Nagaraj Jambagi,the leader of the gang,has been identified as a former key aide of Muthalik and linked to the Sri Rama Sene.

Muthalik,however,denied any knowledge or association with Jambagi. This is a mass organisation. Many people come and go and we cant keep track of everyone. The police have only connected him (Jambagi) to Hindu groups not to Sri Rama Sene, Muthalik told The Indian Express earlier this month.

With a link emerging to some of the accused in the Malegaon case,police officers in Maharashtra as well as the state Anti-Terrorism Squad is expected to question Muthalik in Mangalore while he is in custody here. We have received information that a police team will be coming to interrogate him. It is not clear if they will seek custody, IGP Western Range A M Prasad said in Mangalore Thursday.

Govt turned to him for security

Prasad Attavar,the state vice president of the Sri Rama Sene,is among the only one arrested in connection with the Mangalore pub attack case who is gainfully employed. Hailing from a place with the same name in coastal Karnataka,the 28-year-old is the head of an agency that provides security services on demand in the district,along with his partner Devanand Shetty. Attavars agency was in fact chosen by the Mangalore administration to provide security for a regional cultural festival called Karavalli Utsav that was ironically in progress at the time of the pub attack,sources said.

According to police officials,Attavar,who has been associated with the Sri Rama Sene since its inception in 2004, does not have a known criminal record.

On the day of the pub attack,he claims to have been away from Mangalore organising activities of the Sene. His role has emerged in the case following his justification of the attacks as an effort to protect Indian culture and tradition.

Attavar is considered a strategist in the outfit who identifies local issues to be addressed. He is believed to have in the past helmed many campaigns,including an attack on a local hotel for serving beef.