Will ensure safe V-Day celebrations: Karnataka govt

In the wake of threats from various organisations about disrupting Valentine's Day celebrations, the state government has decided to deploy teams of police personnel to monitor the situation.

At Bengaluru, 90 platoons have been pressed into service on Saturday to ensure that miscreants do not go on a rampage, said chief of state police force Ajai Kumar Singh.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa also assured the people that they would be safe and his government would do everything to ensure that no untoward incident takes place.

The CM termed the acts of right-wing organisation Shri Ram Sene as 'anti-development' and declared that his government was committed towards maintaining peace in the state.

Singh added that 102 persons have been arrested so far in connection with today's bandh. As a precautionary measure, the police has taken 425 persons into preventive custody and filed 50 cases.

The Sene had called for a bandh across Karnataka on Saturday to protest the humiliation faced by its chief Pramod Muthalik, whose face was blackened by alleged Youth Congress activists in Bengaluru.

Though the bandh evoked mixed reactions across the state, Sene activists forced shopkeepers to down shutters in Mangalore, Udupi and Belgaum.

Sene activists targeted the residences of Congress leaders and pelted stones at them. However, Bengaluru remained calm in spite of the bandh call.