Tension prevailed in Dharmasthala on Wednesday, August 6, after three YouTubers were attacked, allegedly by a mob who accused them of insulting the Dharmasthala temple, its Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade and his brother D Harshendra Kumar.
Ajay Anchan who runs the Kudla Rampage YouTube channel, Abhishek of United Media and Santhosh of Sanchari Studio were assaulted on the Dharmasthala-Pangala Road in Dharmasthala around 5 pm.
The visuals from the incident show the cameras of the YouTubers broken. In another video, a group of around six unidentified men can be heard hurling abuses in Tulu, the local language, demanding, “What video are you making? What exactly are you trying to say about the Kshetra (Dharmasthala)?” One of the men then grabs Abhishek’s camera.
Ajay Anchan told TNM that he and his cameraperson Suhan had gone to interview Rajat Kishan G, a contestant on Bigg Boss Kannada, who had come to meet Sowjanya’s family. Sowjanya was raped and murdered in October 2012 and her killers have not been caught.
“We wanted an interview and they asked us to come to that spot. We were in the middle of interviewing them and around 25 people turned up. They asked us what we were saying about Veerenda Heggade, D Harshendra Kumar, and the Dharmasthala temple. We asked them ‘what did we say’, and they started beating us up,” Ajay said.
Ajay said he has injuries on his head and that he felt dizzy and nauseous after the attack. He does not know who hit him or with what. He and the other two YouTubers have been admitted to Benaka Hospital in Dharmasthala.
He also said that the attackers broke his camera and took away the memory card.
He said that Abhishek and Santosh were also on the spot, but that they had arrived separately.
After word of the attack spread, supporters of the three YouTubers too gathered at the spot. The situation became tense as another group, who claimed to be supporters of the Dharmasthala temple, allegedly tried to go to Sowjanya’s house, which was nearby. In the melee, they also vandalised and damaged a car bearing Sowjanya’s photo belonging to her uncle Vittal Gowda.
Police resorted to lathicharge twice to control the situation. By around 7.45 pm, the two different groups were at the Dharmasthala police station demanding action. As this story is being published, the protests are on from both sides. Those protesting against the YouTubers alleged that for many days they have been defaming the temple and the administration.
D Harshendra Kumar, brother of Veerendra Heggade, had approached a Bengaluru court seeking to restrain the media and others from covering the Dharmasthala mass burials case. The court passed an interim temporary injunction, restraining the media on July 18.
Ajay Anchan, who runs Kudla Rampage, had challenged the gag order passed by the trial court in the Karnataka High Court which ruled in favour of Kudla Rampage. The Bengaluru trial court on Wednesday, August 6, declined to extend the temporary injunction granted to Harshendra Kumar.
Suvarna News journalists Harish and Naveen were attacked outside Benaka Hospital where a large crowd gathered.
(This is a developing story).