Congmen protest 'foisting' of cases against Shivakumar's kin

Bangalore, Nov 16 (UNI) Congressmen and supporters of former Minister D K Shivakumar today threw stones at buses and attempted to set a bus on fire in the city and Bangalore Rural district in protest against the booking of cases against the family members of the Congress leader by the forest officials in Bellary district.

Police said that in the city, protestors threw stones at buses and agitated against what they called 'vindictive politics' being played by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy against Mr Shivakumar, his long time vocal critic.

Similar incidents were witnessed in the worst affected Kanakapura town, Harohalli, Satanur and Kodihalli in Bangalore rural district.

In all, ten KSRTC buses were damaged and tension prevailed in all these places.

In Kanakapura, agitators threw stones at Government buses in Bangalore road, Ramanagar road, Mysore road, Kodihalli, Aiyappa Swamy temple square and other places. They also tried to set a bus afire, but police intervened in time to thrawt them. The protestors also burnt tyres on the roads and most of the shops and business establishments downed their shutters.

Congress workers staged demonstrations, while their leaders addressed gatherings, slamming the Government for booking ''false cases'' against Mr Shivakumar and his kin.

The forest officials had arrested three people in Bellary on Tuesday night and booked cases against 15 others for allegedly storing over two lakh tones of iron ore valued at Rs 27 crore in the yard belonging to a private company illegally. Cases were also filed against the wife, brother and sister of Mr Shivakumar.

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