Police register case against former BJP MLA, district president over cockfighting raid in Bantwal
Mangaluru: The Bantwal police have registered cases against 27 individuals, including former BJP MLA from Puttur Sanjeeva Matandur and Dakshina Kannada district BJP president Satish Kumpala, following a raid on an alleged illegal cockfighting event held during a temple fair.
The incident occurred at the Ullalti Durgaparameshwari Temple in Kepu village of Bantwal taluk. According to police sources, the raid was conducted on Sunday based on specific and credible information that cockfighting was being organised illegally in the guise of a religious fair.
An inspector-led police team reached the spot while the event was underway and seized around 20 roosters from the premises. Despite police informing those present about the legal ban on cockfighting, several individuals reportedly refused to disperse, prompting the registration of cases.
The police have alleged that former MLA Sanjeeva Matandur, district BJP president Satish Kumpala, and others including Muralidhar Pai, Dayanand Ujiremaru, Hariprasad Yadav, Ashok Shetty of Vittal, and Rajesh Balekallu actively instigated the gathering to continue the cockfighting event.
Based on these allegations, cases have been registered under Sections 189(2), 49, 221, 223 and 190 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, along with Sections 3 and 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
Interestingly, this is the second FIR related to cockfighting at the same venue within two days. On Saturday, the Puttur police had booked Congress MLA Ashok Rai and 16 others for organising cockfighting at the same temple during the annual fair.
The organisers had claimed that cockfighting was a long-standing tradition carried out only during the jatre and not for gambling purposes. Congress MLA Ashok Rai had earlier defended the practice, stating that it was purely ritualistic and limited to the temple festival.
He had also reportedly urged locals to continue the tradition, following which police registered a case against him and others. The issue has now taken a clear political turn, with the BJP accusing the Congress-led state government of selectively targeting Hindu religious practices under the pretext of enforcing the law.
The controversy is expected to escalate further, adding to the ongoing political sparring between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP in coastal Karnataka.
