MANGALORE: It is no surprise that Mangalore that had attained notoriety at international level due to the several moral policing acts, the most important being the pub attack and attack on churches, is now heaving a sigh of relief, thanks to the concerted efforts of the four senior police officials whose efficient and daring style of functioning has yielded result.
The infamous pub attack had taken place at the Amnesia pub on January 24, 2009 making Mangalore hit the headlines for all the wrong reason. The Sri Rama Sene men who had raided the pub had attacked the girls in such a manner that the entire incident, kicked off protests and opposition galore all over the nation.
The State Government on its part had tried to hush up the serious incidents like the church attacks and pub attacks, with even BJP leaders saying the media had glorified a small incident. But as protests intensified, the true picture emerged.
In a way the year 2009 did not begin on a pleasant note for Mangalore.
If January 24 was a witness to the Amnesia pub attack, on January 26, notorious underworld don Dhananjaya Poojari was found murdered reportedly by the Ravi Poojari gang at Gurupur. February saw the attack on Manjeshwar legislator CH Kunhumbu’s daughter Shruthi who was with a colleague in a bus. On February 7, four persons who attempted to loot Alukkas’ Jewellery and Muttut Finance were arrested, while notorious rowdy Santhu was murdered at Polali on February 18.On March 20, Rasheed Malabari, the notorious gangster of the Chota Rajan group was arrested n Mangalore. Investigations revealed that he had conspired to eliminate Varun Gandhi and Pramod Mutalik.
Communal elements had even raided the office of Karavali Ale which had stood up against communalism.
The month of April saw the murder of a promising young advocate Naushad Kasim in Mangalore, reportedly for the sole reason that he was the legal counsel for the underworld don Rasheed Malabari who was arrested in Mangalore.
June saw yet another unwelcome incident when the Andhra cops who were in Dharmasthala on election duty, fired at the locals killing an innocent person named Aithappa. In July another notorious rowdy Vamanjoor Rohi was killed.
October gave another shock to Mangalore with the arrest of the serial killer Mohan Kumar who had eliminated as many as 20 young women.
There is no denying that the district became a communally sensitive place, thanks to the influence of the BJP government and its Sangh parivar cadres. But for the great luck of Mangalore, the then Western Range IGP AM Prasad, SP Satish Kumar, Dy SP Jayanth Shetty and DC Maheshwar Rao who were branded as apathetic officials were transferred.
IGP Gopal Hosur who took charge from Prasad in his very first press meet (June 11) had said that the rise in crime graph in the district was a challenge to the police department. Even the DK SP Dr Subrahmanyeshwara Rao, ASP Amith Singh, and DySP Girish who took charge almost the same time contributed a great deal in putting a brake to the soaring crime graph and even succeeded in their efforts.
There is no doubt that Mangalore is heading towards communal harmony and peace bringing in new hopes and aspirations for the new Year.
The peace loving Mangaloreans now hope that political will-power and determination and concerted efforts from elected representatives will go a long way in making this peace a long lasting one.
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