Bengaluru: Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa, on Friday, January 24, said that he would not support Aditya Rao, who planted the bomb at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) on January 20.
It can be recalled that Rao surrendered himself to the police in Bengaluru on Wednesday, January 22, after which he was flown to Mangaluru with a police escort. He was produced before the sixth JMFC court in Mangaluru and was remanded to police custody for 10 days, during which he will be interrogated.
Prior to Rao’s surrender, there were several theories about who could have planted the bomb at MIA. Rumours also began to spread that someone from Kerala had planted the as the suspect was last seen in the Pumpwell area before he turned up in Bengaluru.
JD(S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy floated the theory that the Mangaluru police was behind the incident, claiming that it was merely a “mock drill”. After Rao surrendered himself, the former CM asked the BJP why it was quiet over the developments. He claimed that if the suspect had turned out to be a Muslim, the BJP would have turned it into a major issue.
In a possible response to all of this, Eshwarappa said that there is no question of supporting Rao. “The question of supporting bomb suspect Aditya Rao does not arise,” he said.
He then urged the JD(S) and Congress leaders not to disparage the Mangaluru police. “They should stop suspecting the cops and hurting their morale,” he said adding that an investigation into the bomb case is underway and that the government will take action against Rao after the police submit their report.
