As part of its investigation into the riots that rocked the city's eastern suburb on August 11 night, police arrested 58 more people for their alleged involvement in them, an official said on Sunday.
"We have arrested 58 more people since Friday, taking the total number of suspects held for their role in the riots to 264 so far, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for Bengaluru East S.D. Sharanappa told IANS.
The police also booked 52 cases against all the accused under various sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) for rioting, looting, arson and destroying public property, ostensibly, in protest against a derogatory post on the social media on that fateful day.
"Of the arrested, the main accused are in our (police) custody for interrogation, while others have been lodged in the central jail on the city's outskirts and the Ballari prison under 14-day judicial custody, as investigation on their role in the riots is underway," said Sharanappa.
Ballari is about 330km northwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.
In the two-hour long riots, the unruly mob burnt the house of Pulakeshinagar Assembly segment's Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy and the D.J. Halli police station in the vicinity, set scores of police and public vehicles on fire and destroyed public property.
To quell the mob violence and control the situation, the police opened fire in which three youths from the locality succumbed to bullet wounds later.
A fourth person, who was injured in the tear gas the police fired at the unruly mob, succumbed on Saturday, taking the toll to four in the riots.
"Syed Nadeem, 24, who was in judicial custody after his arrest on August 12, died in a state-run hospital in the city of stomach injury that he suffered in the tear gas incident. He also tested Covid positive," said Sharanappa.
Meanwhile, the ban on assembling of more than five persons has been extended in the entire area till August 18 to maintain law and order.
"Though the situation is under control and security tight with extra vigil, the ban order under section 144 of the CrPC has been extended till August 18 from Sunday to ensure peace and prevent any untoward incident," added Sharanappa.
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