36 Congress leaders booked for staging protest at Karnataka CM Bommai�s residence

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, April 18, 2022: As many as 36 Congress leaders, including party general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, state president D K Shivakumar and former chief minister Siddaramaiah, have been booked for staging a protest against Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai near his official residence last week, the police said Monday.

 

The police have booked a case under sections 143 (unlawful assembly) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Karnataka Police Act, 1963 section 103 (penalty for contravention of regulation of traffic and for preservation of order in public places).

Reacting to the FIR, DK Shivakumar said, “On Friday, BJP workers also staged a protest in front of the CM’s residence demanding Eshwarappa must not resign and why the police have not registered a case against them. The government and police have been partial in taking action and in incidents of moral policing, the Chief Minister himself has taken a stand by asking ‘what’s wrong’.

On April 14, the Congress leaders staged a protest demanding the resignation and arrest of former minister K S Eshwarappa near Bommai’s official residence. They were detained by the police during their march towards the CM’s residence. They later staged a sit-in at Vidhana Soudha demanding the minister’s resignation.

Eshwarappa, who was the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister, resigned after he was charged with abetment to suicide after Santosh K Patil, a Belagavi based civil contractor, alleged that the BJP leader was the reason for his death. Patil, who claimed to have completed 108 civil works, claimed he was not paid and that associates of Eshwarappa demanded a 40 per cent commission to release the funds.

Courtesy: Indian Express