PAYING HOMAGE: Commissioner of Police Ajay Kumar Singh, along with other senior police officials, observing two-minute silence in memory of Kannada actor Rajkumar and those who died in the violence following his death, in Bangalore on Friday. — ; Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: The police will do their best to unearth the conspiracy, if any, behind the violence that rocked Bangalore for two days following the death of the Kannada thespian Rajkumar on Wednesday, Commissioner of Police Ajai Kumar Singh has said.

Mr. Singh told presspersons here on Friday that it was not possible to say at this juncture whether there was a conspiracy or not.

"It could be or it could not be. We will investigate it while probing the 43 cases we have registered so far," he said.

Reacting to a statement that many were brought to the city in lorries from other places before the violence erupted on Thursday, Mr. Singh said he had no intelligence reports regarding that. Seven civilians, Gopal, Janardhan, Shiva Kumar, Muniraju, Yeshwanth Shetty, Shailesh and Kattimani;, and a constable, Manjunath Malladi, were killed during the violence on Thursday, he said.

Autopsy would reveal whether the civilians were killed in the police firing or not.

The police opened fire at Siddalingaiah Circle and near Sri Kanteerava Studios, he said.

Among the 60 civilians injured, nine had been hospitalised and five of them had bullet wounds.

Of the 118 policemen injured, 56 had been admitted to hospitals.

Three IPS officers and two Assistant Commissioners of Police had also suffered injuries, he said. As many as 563 people had been arrested and 43 cases registered so far.

Most of the cases had been registered with the North and the Central Division police, he said.

To a question, Mr. Singh said the police would ascertain whether those arrested had criminal antecedents.

Allegation

Reacting to the charge that the police failed to check the vandalism, Mr. Singh said: "The police were neither unprepared nor caught on the wrong foot. There was a tsunami of emotions. We mobilised the forces in a short time and used minimal force to contain the violence. Opening fire and killing people is the last resort of the police," he said Some platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) had been sent to Kerala for election duty and some were deployed in other parts of the State for BJP leader L.K. Advani's Bharath Suraksha Yatra. The resources available were mobilised and deployed immediately. Around 8,000 policemen were posted in the city on Thursday," he said.

Mr. Singh said there was no political pressure on the police in handling the situation. He appreciated the work of KSRP personnel.

Mr. Singh said seven vans, three cars, two multi-utility vehicles, five jeeps and four motorcycles of the police; 12 buses, four lorries, three cars and 54 two-wheelers had been set on fire since Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds of vehicles had been damaged in stone-throwing, he added.

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