MANGALORE : ” After the police along with Bhajrangdal activists attacked the Christians who were engaged in prayer in the church premises, the Kadri inspector Ganapathi came inside the church and instructed to hand over 25 persons to his custody,” revealed Sunil Vas, a resident of Kulshekhar Parish and a witness to the church attack, while deposing before the Justice Somashekhar Commission on Wednesday.
Sunil Vas said ” When Christians were engaged in special prayer sessions in churches following the attack on Milagres Church on September 14,those doing prayer were attacked for no reason by the team led by Kadri inspector Ganapathi. The then SP Satish Kumar who arrived later on too joined the inspector.”
Yet another witness Gretta Gomes who too deposed before the Commission said so-” On September 15, 2008 I was subject to attack by the police at Kulshekhar Church. I have suffered injuries on my back and thighs. I have secured treatment for the same at a private hospital in Kankanady.” She also produced relevant medical records for the same.
When Counsel for the police Narayana Reddy tried to argue that she had produced a fake certificate and that the complaint that she was attacked by the police was false, Gretta refuted the allegation and said ” I have mentioned my point even in the affidavit and that the medical certificate produced by me is authentic.”
Yet another witness, Paul Cyprian was cross examined by Narayana Reddy, counsel for the police department and Jagadish Shenava, counsel for the Bhajrangdal. However, Cyprian gave a shock to the advocates for the Christian community B Ibrahim and Francis when he replied in the affirmative to an argument by the counsel for the police that the allegations levelled by him against the police in the affidavit were false.
Justice Somashekhar who realised that the witness was innocent gave him several opportunities to answer the queries posed by the advocates during cross examination.
Though Jagadish Shenava argued that the Bhajrangdal had nothing to do with the Kulshekhar church attack, Cyprian said ” Though I do not know local Bhajrangdal workers, Bhajrangdal is connected to the incident that took place at Kulshekhar Church.”

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3. Somashekhar panel demands list of cops present during church attack
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