Mangalore, July 21: Two Muslim youths, who were arriving at the city by a bus from Thumbe on Monday, were attacked allegedly by the members of Sri Rama Sene.
The victims, Mohammed Irfan (23) and Fayaz (22), were admitted to Government Wenlock Hospital here, where they were treated and discharged.
Mr. Irfan told that a few men entered the bus he was travelling by at Pumpwell, surrounded him and Mr. Fayaz, and waited till it crossed Jyothi Circle, where they allegedly stopped the bus and assaulted them. “They kept on charging us with being part of a group that had desecrated some temples in Mangalore,” Mr. Irfan said.
Before carrying out this attack, the assailants invited a section of the media to cover it. A man, who identified himself as an activist of the sene, contacted many presspersons over telephone, and asked them to watch out for a Jain Travels bus near Jyothi Circle and watch “some action”.
However, the same person later called this correspondent and said: “The action has been carried out based on a complaint by members of the Durga Sene.” Convenor of the sene Madhusudan Urwastore said: “I am not sure of whether the attackers were from sene. I will find out and inform you.” A case has been registered in the Mangalore North police station.
Later, the group stormed the office of a private security firm in Balmatta and demanded that the management immediately released the allegedly long overdue salary of a few women employees.
A number of activists, allegedly belonging to Hindutva groups, along with the aggrieved women employees, tried to force their way into the office of the Karnataka Security Services. But, the office staff managed to stave off their advances by locking themselves in. Unable to enter, the activists laid a 30-minute siege on the office before leaving the place with threats of dire consequences.