B’luru civic workers assaulted for taking down illegal flex boards, 4 arrested

The Karnataka High Court had earlier ordered illegal flex boards be removed by the BBMP.
B’luru civic workers assaulted for taking down illegal flex boards, 4 arrested
B’luru civic workers assaulted for taking down illegal flex boards, 4 arrested
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The Karnataka High Court pulled by the Bengaluru police a day after a group of BBMP workers were allegedly assaulted for removing illegal flex board. This as the police had failed to protect the BBMP workers, who were acting on the court’s orders by pulling down hoardings.

The High Court also ordered the Police Commissioner to complete the investigation by the end of Friday and file the chargesheet by Saturday regarding the incident.

Hours after Bengaluru Police Commissioner Suneel Kumar was summoned by the High Court, the police arrested four persons in connection with the crime. The accused have been identified as Rajendra, Simson, Kamalnath and Surya.

The Ramamurthy Nagar Police have registered an FIR for assault, rioting and common intention against the four. The High Court also gave BBMP officials a dressing down when the Palike's representatives told the court that they were unable to stop the advertisers from putting up the flex banners.

"Produce the errant hoarding contractors in front of the court. BBMP officers must come out of their AC (air conditioned) offices and work for the people," the court observed.

A senior BBMP official told TNM that those who allegedly assaulted the workers were Congress workers and followers of MLA Byrathi Basavaraj. However, Bengaluru Mayor Sampath Raj rubbished the allegations and said that there was no political involvement in the crime. 

The High Court, on Wednesday, had ordered BBMP officials to take down the illegal flex banners defacing the city. The Palike managed to bring down 19,000 banners within four hours.

On Thursday, the BBMP Assistant Revenue Officer of HAL sub division Bhadrachar and a group of BBMP workers who had gone to remove flex banners near Tin Factory in Mahadevapura Zone. However, they ran into trouble when a gang of men allegedly assaulted them while the drive to remove the flexes was on.

"All of a sudden around 30-40 people came and started demanding that the must not be removed. The locals began manhandling the BBMP workers. When ARO Bhadrachar stepped in to protect the men, all of them were assaulted by a mob," BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad told the media.

The incident occurred near Tin Factory opposite Honda showroom in Ramamurthy Nagar. 

Following the crime, policemen have been accompanying BBMP teams since Friday to ensure that the High Court’s order to bring down all the illegal banners, hoardings and flexes is completed. 

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