Tension at mortuary during postmortem

MYSURU: Tension prevailed at MMCRI mortuary, where the postmortem of RSS worker Magalli J Ravi was conducted with city BJP activists, led by the party's city president B H Manjunath, taking to protest, condemning the government over the alleged murder of Ravi in Periyapatna. They claimed Ravi was murdered for allegedly being a rightist. They also raised slogans against anti-RSS and anti-BJP forces, and accused the members of Popular Front of Inida (PFI) to be behind "the murder of Ravi". Ravi died hours after attending a peace meeting between different communities that was convened at Periyapatna police station ahead of Tipu Jayanti. Claiming that there was an argument between the participants over the birth anniversary celebration of Tipu, the protesters linked Ravi's death to it, and accused PFI members being responsible for the same. There was also tension for sometime at the mortuary after the chief minister's se cretary Kumar and Congress district president B J Vijaykumar came to the mortuary, where the body of Ravi Kumar was kept for autopsy. The protesters gheraoed the Congress workers and accused them of trying to influence experts conducting the autopsy. Though Kumar reasoned that they have come to see the body of Gauramma, a sexagenarian from Najangud who died in stove-burst accident, BJP workers did not buy their claims. Police later intervened and pacified the protesters. Drawing similarities between the murder of Ravi and other RSS workers, MP Prathap Simha claimed that Ravi was murdered. Police have to investigate and arrest the assailants, he said, terming the incident as a premeditated attack. The MP has threatened to call for a bandh in Periyapatna, HD Kote, Hunsur and KR Nagar on Monday if police fail to arrest the assailants. Ravi laid to rest Since Ravi's family members suspected foul play, the autopsy was held at MMCRI mortuary in Mysuru. The body was handed over to the family in the afternoon. Police escorted the body from Mysuru to Magalli in Periyapatna.