'Bengaluru riots pre-planned, intended to change area's demography'

The Bengaluru riots on August 11 were “pre-planned” and were possibly intended to instil fear to change the demography of the area, a non-state committee headed by a retired judge has said in its report.

Three people died in police firing during the riots caused by a social media post by a relative of Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy on Prophet Muhammad. The house of the Pulakeshinagar MLA was also damaged during the protests against the social media post.

The committee belonging to an organisation called Citizens of Democracy and headed by retired judge Justice Srikanth D Babaladi said the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the Popular Front of India (PFI) were involved in the “planning and execution” of the violence.

“Based on the kind of houses that have been attacked and people who have been targeted, the motive of the riots could also be fear-mongering so as to change the demography and turn the area into a Muslim majority one,” the committee said in its 49-page report submitted to Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday, according to The Print.

The report was made after the committee visited the KG Halli and DJ Halli, the areas affected by the riots, on August 16 and August 18. Besides the retired judge Babaladi (retd), the other members of the fact-finding team were retired IAS officer Madan Gopal, retired IFS officer R Raju, retired IRS officer Prakash, retired DGP M N Krishnamurthy, journalists R K  Mattoo and Santhosh Thimmaiah, professors M Jayappa, and H T Aravinda.

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“After visiting the riot affected area, interacting with several victims, police and prominent people and after perusing available evidence, we have inferred the following. That the riots were pre-planned and organised. The mob has specifically targeted certain prominent Hindus in the area. That the entire incident qualifies to be a riot against the state with the motive of reducing the faith of common people in the State,” states the report.

The committee said locals actively participated in the violence.   “The committee is of the opinion that the locals were not only involved in execution but were also aware about it in advance,” the committee said, The Print reported. “Despite attempts being made to project the same as political rivalry, it was undoubtedly communally motivated.”

Citizens for Democracy was started in 2011 with the objective of safeguarding “democratic values”.

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