KRV activists torch bus

BELGAUM:  Protesting against allowing pro-Maharashtrian organisation Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) to conduct a convention at Yellur village of the taluk on Sunday, activists of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike set ablaze a Maharashtra state government bus full of passengers, at Sthavanidhi Ghat on Pune-Bangalore National highway near Nippani in Chikkodi taluk on Saturday.The activists beat the driver, for not stopping the bus initially. They hurdled the road with stones and raised slogans against Karnataka government for permitting the convention, and against MES for its ‘anti-state stand’. Soon after the incident, Karnataka and Maharashtra stopped bus services to both states. Police arrested Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists Siddappa Maruti Appachigol of Chinchali and Sandeep Sunil Munde of Prabhu Nagar at Nippani, in connection with setting the bus on fire.