A poster put up in front of the KSRTC bus stand in Puttur on Monday. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Puttur Town police on Monday detained seven more people in connection with the display of a banner near the Puttur KSRTC bus stand, showing BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel and former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda in poor light.
A poster with pictures of Mr Kateel and Mr Gowda, saying “condolences to those who are the cause of BJP’s humiliating defeat”, was pasted on the compound wall of the forest department’s office, which is opposite the bus stand.
A garland of slippers was put on him. The pictures of this poster were widely shared on social media.
Puttur City Municipal Council took action to remove the posters. Municipal commissioner Madhu S. Manohar lodged a complaint with the Puttur Town Police seeking action against those who put up the posters under Section 3 of the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act 1981.
The police had registered a complaint and on Monday questioned Vishwanath and Madhav, residents of Narimogaru village in Puttur Raluk.
On Tuesday, the police took Abhi alias Avinash, Shivram, Chaitresh, Ishwar, Nishant, Dixit and Guruprasad into custody for questioning.
Bharatiya Janata Party workers led by former Puttur MLA Sanjeev Matandur staged a protest on Monday in which Mr. Matandur accused newly elected MLA Ashok Kumar Rai of being involved in the incident.
Distancing himself from the incident, Mr Rai said in a statement that neither he nor the Congress worker was involved in such a “shameful” act.
Mr. Rai asks the police to find all the accused persons involved in the act, BJP workers and Mr. Matandur are making baseless allegations to vent out their frustration over the defeat in the assembly elections.