Karnataka: Clash over portraits of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Tipu Sultan; ban order in Shivamogga | India News

SHIVAMOGGA: A youth suffered knife wounds Monday as two groups clashed over the display of portraits of Hindu Mahasabha spearhead Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan in Karnataka’s Shivamogga city, 300km northwest of Bengaluru.
Authorities issued prohibitory orders till August 18 while schools will be closed on Tuesday in Shivamogga and its industrial twin town, Bhadravati, 20km away. Thirty platoons of armed police along with a posse of rapid action force were deployed in the city.

Police detained several youths after the clash at Ameer Ahmad Circle in Shivamogga. A few youths protested the installation of Savarkar’s photograph at the business hub, which abuts a mosque. Later, they brought a poster of Tipu to be displayed there, leading to protests and an altercation that turned violent. Cops lathicharged the fighting mob to bring the situation under control.

But minutes after the clash, a youth Prem Singh from Rajasthan was stabbed 200 metres away at Gandhi Bazaar. Shivamogga SP BM Laxmi Prasad said Singh was admitted to hospital and his condition is stable. He said several youths are being questioned for the stabbing.
The place was already tense after police arrested a person following a complaint by Shivamogga City Corporation that accused him of forcing the staff at a mall to remove the Savarkar photo displayed at the business hub. As tension gripped the city, commercial establishments celebrating Independence Day downed their shutters and residents stayed indoors.