Mandya: An incident of stone-throwing was reported after a line man was killed on the spot after he got electrocuted when he was attending a service call on a transformer in Lokasara village near Mandya on Friday, April 29.
Lingaraju (48), a resident of Panakanahalli, working at the CESCOM distribution centre at Kolakaranadoddi is the deceased.
The residents of nearby villages gathered immediately near the incident spot and vented their anger against the CESCOM authorities holding them responsible for the death of Lingaraju.
The police team lead by Superintendent of Police arrived at the spot to take stock of the situation as large crowds gathered around the spot. The villagers kept the dead body hanging from a pole and refused to bring it down. They urged the police to take concrete action against the people responsible for the incident. They also asked compensation for the deceased.
However, the SP ordered his subordinates to remove the body against the wishes of the large crowds. The mob was enraged by this move, and started pelting stones relentlessly against the police and their vehicles.
The Superintendent of Police Sudhir Kumar Reddy, Deputy Superintendent of Police Udesh, Inspector Babitha and few other policemen were injured in stone pelting. When the situation became tense the SP ordered lathicharge. When it still did not subside, he resorted to firing in the air to disburse the mob to bring the situation under control. The policemen fired around two to three rounds in the air, but the villagers followed the police vehicle carrying the dead body and pelted stones on the way, which resulted in the damage of three police jeeps and two city armed reserve vans. The injured policemen are being treated at the district government hospital.
As a preventive measure, a battalion of armed police have been deployed around the area. Additional forces from Mysuru and Ramnagar have been summoned to assist the local police. The police have kept a close watch on the situation which is under control now but tension still prevails around in the area as the police are on the lookout for criminal elements involved.
