Sri Ram Sene leaders held for threatening another Kannada writer

Raichur, Sep 20: The Raichur police arrested Sri Ram Sene district president Manjunath Bavi and Rajachandra, a member of the sene, on the charge of threatening senior Kannada writers — Chennaveera Kanavi and Giraddi Govindaraj — at a press meet on Saturday. They were later released on bail. The police have also booked two other activists of the sene.

The Sene leaders threatened to “destroy the houses” of the two writers if they failed to provide “substantial evidence” within a month to prove their allegation of Sri Ram Sene’s involvement in M.M. Kalburgi’s murder case.

Superintendent of Police Chetan Singh Rathor said that after obtaining permission from the magistrate, the Raichur West police registered a case under Section 506 of Indian Penal Code (Punishment for criminal intimidation) against those who issued the statement.

“Threatening is a non-cognisable offence and police cannot take suo motu action against the accused. As per the process, we submitted a report to the court and obtained permission to book [them],” Mr. Rathor said.

At the press meet, Mr. Bavi said the allegation against the organisation was made by the writers at a recent protest meet in Dharwad against the murder of Kalburgi. They said “notices” would be next issued to all 138 people who participated in the agitation.