Rama Sene,Bajrang Dal vie for ‘credit,’ extortion under scan

In the conflicting “we did it” claims,and the fact that the attack was carried out with local TV crews at hand on invitation,could lie the truth behind an extortion racket thriving in the garb of “guarding traditional Indian values”,say senior police officials.

“The real hidden agenda could have been extortion. We are investigating on those lines. The fact is that by claiming responsibility,a group will be able to extort money from similar establishments later,” said a senior Mangalore police official.

In the past,moral policing outfits have sent feelers to pubs and hotels for cash incentives by holding out the threat of attacks.

According to statements of staff at the Amnesia Pub at the Hotel Woodside in the busy Balmatta area of Mangalore,two men approached the front desk of the hotel an hour before the actual attack took place at 4.30 pm on Saturday,reportedly claiming rights to inspect the premises.

Police officials in Mangalore,however,said the hotel staff had not made any reference to an extortion attempt on Saturday or on previous occasions.

“There was some dance activity at the hotel. It was unauthorised. It was taken advantage of,” said Additional SP R Dileep.

Incidentally,like Bangalore city,entertainment in Mangalore city is governed by stringent licensing norms that require establishments facilitating dance and live music to pass muster with police rules.

After the attack at the Amnesia Pub,both the Sri Rama Sene and the Bajrang Dal claimed responsibility. Local organiser of the Sri Rama Sene,Kumar Palemar,went on record to challenge the Bajrang Dal to prove that their cadre had been involved in the pub attack. His deputy Prasad Attavar claimed the attack was a “spontaneous reaction against women who flouted traditional Indian norms of decency”.

The Sri Rama Sene,started by former Bajrang Dal leader Pramod Mutallik,has been the principal ‘moral policing’ outfit in Mangalore in recent years,typically targeting inter-religious relationships and issues like cow slaughter.

On Saturday,in a separate incident,a group claiming to be Sri Rama Sene activists attacked a 46-year-old man Abdul Hamid and four of his friends,including a Hindu woman,for crossing the outfit’s boundaries for relationships.

While there have been many incidents of individual relationships being targeted in commercial but communally torn Mangalore,Saturday’s attack on a hotel was the first of its kind to be carried out in the garb of moral and cultural policing.

In Bangalore,goons wearing the garb of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike,self-appointed keepers of local culture and tradition,have in the past attacked pubs and hotels frequented by men and women. In 2006,men claiming to belong to the Vedike attacked the Athena Pub at the The Leela Palace Hotel. Police investigations showed that rowdy elements linked to the outfit had attempted to extort money from the pub authorities and carried out the attack after the pub refused to be cowed down.