BSP state prez held for roughing up cop

The police have arrested Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state president Marasandra Muniyappa and a criminal, Velu, on the charges of staging a protest without police permission and manhandling police officers.

A person named Shankar has been locked in a property dispute with Sampath Kumar, Muniraju and Ramanna. The police said these men own real estate businesses.

Sampath had taken a status quo order from the court, which prohibits anyone from getting involved in the dispute.

Nevertheless, Muniyappa interfered in the issue; he led a protest in this regard on Thursday afternoon from BDA complex in Indiranagar to the local police station.

Favouring Shankar, Muniyappa alleged that ACP (Ulsoor sub-division) N Narasimhaiah and inspector D Kumar were hand-in-glove with Sampath’s group in the property dispute.
Although Muniyappa did not have police permission to organise the rally, he led a gathering of about 150 people to the police station. When the police officers asked them to leave, Muniyappa questioned their authority and refused to budge.

When the police’s requests were not entertained and they tried to forcibly remove the protesters, Muniyappa, Velu and Dommalur Muniswamy manhandled Kumar and grabbed his collar.

As a result, the police arrested about 32 persons and took them to Mahadevapura police station even as some followers of Muniyappa managed to escape.

The protestors have been arrested under Indian Penal Code’s Section 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty) and Sction 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly).