Sri Rama Sene men target Mysore pub

Moral policing has raised its ugly head once again in Karnataka. In a shocking attack, reminiscent of the January 24, 2009 shame at a pub in Mangalore, Sri Rama Sene (SRS) activists targeted a Mysore pub on Saturday.

“A 10-member gang comprising SRS activists attacked Hotel Adi Manor, a pub-cum-restaurant in Lashkar area of Mysore, where about 100 customers, including a few foreigners, were enjoying the Saturday night,” Basavaraj Malagatti, deputy commissioner of police (law and order), Mysore, said. Eyewitnesses said some among the customers were dancing to music when the SRS activists attacked at 11.45pm. The pub has a licence from the police to remain open till midnight.

The men went berserk, damaging the furniture and attacking the pub employees, but all the customers escaped.

Interestingly, while the Mangalore pub attack happened two days before Republic Day, the Mysore pub was targeted on the eve of Independence Day — a pattern employed by the SRS in a desperate bid to come into the limelight before national holidays, the police said.

The police managed to nab four SRS activists, who have been identified as Sanjay, who is the Mysore SRS convenor, M Raja, Somashekhar and Raju, all Mysore residents. SRS founder Pramod Muthalik said he came to know about the incident only on Sunday evening and tried to get information about what had happened in Mysore.

“I was busy celebrating Akhanda Bharath Diwas. I am trying to contact our activists in Mysore to know more about the incident,” he said.