MINISTERS VISIT: The Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa at the A.J. Hospital in Mangalore on Wednesday.

MANGALORE: The city was back to normal on Wednesday. Educational institutions reopened and children in their uniforms could be seen going to school.

The markets were functioning as usual and KSRTC and private bus operators resumed all bus services.

The KSRTC even operated their night services to Bangalore, Mysore, Mumbai and other places from Tuesday night onwards, accompanied by armed police jeeps till the outskirts of the city.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa arrived in Mangalore and were huddled in a meeting at the Circuit House with district and police officials.

State Bharatiya Janata Party president D.V. Sadananda Gowda convened a press conference and denied that district in-charge Minister B. Nagaraj Shetty had resigned. Reports to that effect in a in a section of the media were wrong, he asserted.

`Excesses'

Mangalore staff correspondent writes:

The Police Department will look into all genuine complaints of police excesses that may have occurred in the line of duty during the communal flare-up in Dakshina Kannada district since Thursday last, Inspector-General of Police (Western Range) H.N. Sathyanarayana Rao has said. The department does not condone such instances of high-handedness by its personnel, he added. Speaking to The Hindu here on Wednesday, Mr. Rao observed that policemen had acted with extreme restraint under the most trying circumstances.

Taking note of media reports of alleged police excesses, especially in Ullal, Thokkottu and adjoining areas, Mr. Rao said there may have been a few isolated cases where policemen behaved in a manner not expected of them.

Stating that it was the duty of the police to enforce curfew strictly, Mr. Rao said policemen on duty were forced to take tough action against those found violating the curfew. This had been widely perceived as police excesses, he observed.

Action taken

Referring to departmental action initiated against those who were allegedly responsible for instigating and participating in the riots, Mr. Rao said 223 cases were registered in 18 police stations across the district in this regard.

According to him, the police had arrested 406 people in connection with substantive cases against them and also taken 257 people into preventive custody.

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