Karnataka - Bangalore

Police mistake RSS members for terrorists at Shankarapuram

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: When the city was on alert following the terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science, policemen who were on duty in Shankarapuram on Tuesday night thought they had caught some militants who were planning to attack Keshava Krupa, the State headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

According to sources in the police and the RSS, a few people who arrived in a taxi accosted the night beat policemen in Shankarapuram and enquired the location of Keshava Krupa, which is facing a threat of attack. The policemen directed the occupants of the vehicle to the place. The attire and the headgear worn by the taxi driver made the police suspicious and they rushed to the Keshava Krupa, fearing that the people in the vehicle could be terrorists.

They cordoned off the vehicle and searched the bag and baggage of the occupants. As the people in the vehicle knew only Gujarati and English, they could not reply to the queries of the policemen. On being alerted, more policemen rushed to the spot and started questioning them. A RSS functionary, in charge of Keshava Krupa, came out on hearing the commotion. When the police asked him whether he knew the people in the vehicle, he could not identify them, the sources said. Subsequently, it turned out that the people who had come in the vehicle were RSS workers. They had attended the RSS convention in Gujarat and had come to Bangalore by flight. Although the RSS office here was informed of their arrival, there was some communication gap, the sources said.

Recently, the RSS leaders had received a threatening letter that militants will attack Keshava Krupa. Subsequently, the police had provided security to the building.

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