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New angle emerges, business rivalry behind the 2009 pub attack

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The now infamous ‘pub attack’ of 2009 in Mangaluru, was always seen as a case of extreme moral policing. But is this all that it was? Shreyas HS, staff correspondent, Newskarnataka, went behind the scenes, and spoke to the main protagonists, to find out the reasons for the attack. Here’s what he found …

Mangaluru: The colossal uproar that followed the January 24th 2009, Pub attack forced the ‘Amnesia’ pub, the object of the attack, to shut shop immediately, put the attack’s perpetrators behind bars, and some analysts say,  humble the BJP’s stalwarts at the hustings in the coastal region.

All shades of opinion, barring the Hindutva forces, condemned the moral policing that the then nascent ultra right-wing outfit Sri Rama Sene (SRS) indulged in, ignoring what one of the perpetrators of the attack, an SRS activist, has now claimed exclusively to Newskarnataka, was the prime motivation of the attack – Business rivalry. He told Newskarnataka, that this angle was buried beneath the outrage over Hindutva ethical policing, and went unnoticed and uninvestigated.

The new angle

The SRS activist, also an accused in the pub attack, speaking to Newskarnataka under condition of anonymity, claimed that a nearby ‘rival pub’ allegedly gave a ‘contract’, commonly called ‘supari’ to the Bajrang Dal (BD) with the objective of denting the image of ‘Amnesia’, owned by Krishna, as the rival pub began to lose business soon after ‘Amnesia’ began functioning in the vicinity.

He said that the owner of a rival pub gave the contract in exchange for commercial benefits to a Dal leader, whom he did not name. The BD leader in turn, involved the SRS in the act to deflect attention away from the BD, as the Dal was and affiliate of the BJP, the party  that was running the government in 2009 along with the JD (S), and the attack would damage the image of the party.

Explaining the pub’s strategy to Newskarnataka.com, he said that, the contract between the owner of ‘Amnesia’s’ rival, and the Dal leader was for Dal backed activists to hold minor protests with limited violence in front of the rival pub to scare away guests and thus hinder business growth.

This activist, who was out on bail within 20 days of his arrest, told Newskarnataka, that  three activists of the Dakshina Kannada BD unit, Pradeep Pumpwell, Vineeth and Puneeth Kottary took part in the attack and were subsequently booked by the Bunder police along with another 29.  He clarified that these three Dal activists who joined the protest were just ‘obeying’ the ‘orders’ of ‘boss’ with a view to upholding and protecting the dignity of women.

Another erstwhile member of Sri Rama Sene and presently a member of the Akhila Bharath Karmika Sene, Sudatta Jain, privy to the logistics of this incident, corroborated on record, the claims of the SRS activist, that the attack was carefully crafted by a leader of the Dal for commercial benefits. Interestingly, according to Sudatta, the SRS leader Prasad Attavar was contracted by the rival pub to carry out the protests in the middle of 2008. However, his failure to deliver on the agreement, forced this pub to pass on the contract on to the Dal.

He too claimed that the Dal leader, who took the contract, skillfully planned the involvement of the Sri Rama Sene in the name of protection of ‘Hindu culture’.

The attack

Recalling the shameful day in 2009, the SRS activist told Newskarnataka, that his friend, Subhash Padil, then a Sri Rama Sene activist, and currently working with the Hindu Jagaran Vedike, received a phone call from BD member Pradeep Pumpwell, just hours before the incident. The whistle blower said that Pradeep informed Subhash that a few Muslims were partying with Hindu teenage girls at the ‘Amnesia’ pub. Pradeep asked Subhash to report near ‘Amnesia’ to bring a halt to this partying.  When Subhash Padil and contingent of Sri Rama Sene arrived at the spot, they saw Dal activists protesting outside the pub, shouting slogans.

According to him the three activists of Dal, Pradeep Pumpwell, Vineeth and Puneeth Kottary who were at the forefront of the protest, insisted Subhash Padil and Jeevan (both SRS) enter the pub and bring this socializing to an end, which they did. The heated altercations between female customers of pub and SRS activists snowballed into what is now known as the infamous ‘pub attack’, which involved physical attacks on the women in the pub and vandalization of the pub itself.

He admitted, surprisingly, that there were no Muslim boys, “Unfortunately the Dal leader duped us. In fact the Dal did not even make an attempt to own up, since it would damage the image of the Bharatiya Janata Party which was in power 2009 along with Janata Dal (Secular)”.

When quizzed about why the police were not informed of this angle soon after the attack, the activist said the attack was, to the best of his knowledge at the time, carried out in good faith to promote ethical behavior, and he learnt about this contract only a year after the sensational attack. He said that he was informed of this contract, by a close friend of the Dal’s leader.

“State SRS Chief Pramod Mutalik and district leader, Prasad Attavar (founder of Rama Sene and chief at present) were not in the picture at all,” he disclosed.  He said that Mutalik was forced to accept the responsibility, while Prasad hurried to own up responsibility for the attack, hoping to generate publicity and a market for himself. He also expressed the view that, Mutalik should not have been booked in the case.

Claims of supari denied

“The attack was organized by me and it was only to protect Indian culture” claimed Prasad Attavar, the then the district leader of the SRS when questioned on the business rivalry motive. He rubbished the business angle version saying they were loyal soldiers of Hindutva.

Subash Padil, of the SRS, also involved in the attack, in response to a question put by this reporter on whether the Dal took advantage of the SRS to fulfill the contract, said that he was unaware of such a theory doing the rounds. He said that the attack was not planned, but done to save the dignity and reputation of women. He however admitted that they had  “ mulled organizing a protest to stop the party”, and in a reiteration of what the SRS activist had told Newskarnataka, added, “Prasad Attavar,  the then district convener of Sri Rama Sene did not know about the attack, but claimed credit and ransom after the attack”.

BD leader Sharan Pumpwell was not far behind in denying the allegations of business rivalry being the motive for the attack “Why did SRS leader hours after the attack claim responsibility of the attack?” he questioned. He disputed allegations of contract or a deal with a rival pub. Sharan claimed that the Dal’s attacks were meaningful, with no money percolating among leaders. This view was supported by another Dal leader and accused in the pub attack, Puneeth Kottary too.

When Newskarnataka contacted the owner of the rival pub, he laughed at the allegations and said “Mangaluru is a small city and he would lose business, had he organized the crime”.  However he requested this reporter not to publish the sensational claims made by SRS activist.

According to a source close to Krishna, the owner of the affected pub, ‘Amnesia’, on the other hand, admitted to knowledge of this allegation. “I know this story. But it is pointless to resurface this issue” he rued. The source told Newskarnataka that the owner of ‘Amnesia’ pub was unwilling to place his views on record as he was only now recovering from the trauma that he and his business underwent on account of the moral policing attack.

The current police commissioner S Murugan speaking to Newskarnataka said there was no exploration of such an angle in the pub attack, as it had not come up before. However he did assure this reporter that he would look into the old files, and examine the need for an investigation from this angle.

Whether the investigation is reopened to examine this new dimension, or not, the accused activist, who led the attack in the passionate belief that,  what he was doing was for the good of Hindutva and society, remains pained by the fact that their leaders used them for their own ends. “We did not expect them to use us like this”, he lamented.

 

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