A day after the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police suspected terror link to the DJ Halli violence, the probe team on Tuesday questioned two corporators in connection with the incident.
DJ Halli corporator R. Sampath Raj, who is also a former mayor, and Pulakeshinagar corporator A.R. Zakir were grilled by the CCB sleuths for nearly six hours and their statements were recorded.
According to sources, Sampath Raj's personal assistant Arun Raj had been picked up on Monday night for questioning. The police, after examining the WhatsApp call details on Arun's mobile, found that calls were made to persons, who are now in the police custody for rioting.
While the trigger for the violence was an "offensive" post shared on Facebook by sitting Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy's nephew, Naveen, the arson and riots were a result of a battle for political upmanship, suspect the police.
Revenue minister R. Ashok, who had addressed a press meet along with the Pulakeshinagar MLA after his house was gutted, had attributed the Bengaluru riots to a political tussle among the local Congress leaders. "The Congress corporators are divided over their support to the Congress MLA," he had said.
In May 2018, Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, a former JD(S) MLA who had crossed over to the Congress along with six others including Zameer Ahmed Khan, won the SC reserved constituency a second time, with the support of then chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Around the same time, Sampath Raj, a two-time councillor from Devarajeenahalli ward (that comes under Pulakeshinagar Assembly segment) had become the Mayor of Bengaluru, with the backing of senior Congress leaders D. K. Shivakumar and K. J. George. Raj later contested the Assembly polls from C.V. Raman Nagar and lost. But he was nursing the ambition to contest from Pulakeshinagar.
"I have cooperated with the police in the investigation," said Raj, while walking out of the CCB office.
"I am on good terms with our MLA. I am surprised that my name is being dragged into the case," said Zakir.
"This is a deliberate attempt to frame the Congress leaders by the BJP government to cover up its own failures. Our corporators are being tortured," charged KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar.
Leader of opposition Siddaramaiah dared the BJP government to ban the SDPI. "The BJP government is derailing the probe into the Bengaluru violence. Every day, a BJP MLA or a minister visits DJ Halli and makes different claims. They first blamed the SDPI, then the Congress and now the terrorists for the riots. If the SDPI members are found guilty, punish them. Will the BJP, which has strategically used SDPI to divide the minority vote, dare to ban it? The BJP is interested in giving the incident a communal angle and to frame the Congress leaders rather than finding the real culprits. The DJ Halli incident is being used to dislodge Yediyurappa by some BJP leaders, who are close to the RSS," alleged Siddaramaiah, adding that the Congress which had won the MLA seat with the highest number of votes and holds sway in the wards has no role in the riots.
"The investigation should begin with probing the Intelligence failure. If the government claims the riots are pre-planned, it is a case of intelligence failure. The police also have to answer why there was a delay in filing a case against Naveen for posting an inflammatory post," added Siddaramaiah.
So far, the DJ Halli and KG Halli police have registered 62 FIRs and arrested 346 persons in connection with the August 11 violence.
With the state government deciding to recover the cost of public and private property damaged from the rioters, the RTO officials visited DJ halli to assess the damage as at least 60 vehicles have been torched by rioters.
