BENGALURU: The recent Bengaluru riots occurred at breakneck speed, erupting in less than three hours of the derogatory message being put up on social media, a police official said on Friday.
"Naveen posted the derogatory message around 6 p.m. and by 9 p.m. the riots erupted," Central Crime Branch (CCB) Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Kuldeep Jain told IANS.
The government machinery was already strained with battling the Coronavirus pandemic, and the riots caught them unawares.
On Tuesday night, hundreds of people ran amok after Pulikeshinagar's Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy's nephew P. Naveen posted a derogatory message on social media. The mob pelted stones, injuring 60 policemen, and committed acts of vandalism and arson in DJ Halli, KG Halli, Pulikeshinagar and Kaval Byrasandra areas. "As soon as the news reached the police, cops from nearby police stations rushed to the spot," said Jain. Police Commissioner Kamal Pant himself rushed to the riot-affected areas to monitor the situation and so did other senior police officials and personnel.
The police were initially overwhelmed with the rioters outnumbering them. "By that time whatever preventive things we could do, we tried it out. All that did not calm down the mob," he said. It was only after the police fired in the air and later at the rioters, leading to the death of three people, did the situation come under control. Jain said batons and announcements proved futile in calming down the mob. (IANS)