Kushalnagar: An auto rickshaw driver was found murdered at Teppadakandi on Siddapura-Kushalnagar road on Sunday midnight after torchlight procession was taken out by Hindu Jagran Vedike in Kushalnagar. Section-144 has been slammed in Kushalnagar after the incident turned the region tense.

The deceased has been identified as Praveen (32), a native of Athur near Harangi. He was stabbed to death by miscreants.

Soon after the news of the killing spread, Hindu activists staged a stir outside the Kushalnagar government hospital and obstructed the post mortem of the body urging police to arrest miscreants immediately. Meanwhile, auto drivers in Kushalnagar too plunged into action by protesting the killing by stopping service. Tahsildar B C Shivappa clamped section-144 in Kushalnagar and security was stepped up in order to ensure that no further untoward incidents occur.

Deputy Commissioner Richard Vincent D’Souza and SP Rajendra Prasad promised to arrest the accused within next 24 hours. However, the protesters were adamant that district in-charge minister M R Sitharam must visit them.

Kushalnagar rural police registered a case and investigations are on. Auto drivers in Kushalnagar are participating in the protest by stopping autos.

MLC Sunil Subramani and southern range IGP Bijay Kumar Singh visited the spot. BJP resorted to staging rasta roko by raising slogans against the State government.