Case against SRS members for conducting rifle training in Belagavi in Karnataka

SRS founder Pramod Mutalik claimed that air guns were used for the training, and not real weapons.

Police in Karnataka have registered a case against 12 Sri Ram Sene (SRS) activists on the charge of conducting rifle training in a village in Bagalkot in the last week of December.

According to the complaint, SRS activists held a rifle training camp on the last day of a week-long personality development programme held in a farmer’s field in Todalabagi village. As many as 196 youth underwent rifle training.

The case was filed nearly a week after the training session. A Bengaluru-based NGO All India Association for Justice submitted a memorandum to the Director General of police Alok Mohan seeking action. They were alerted after a video of the rifle training was shared on social media.

Bagalkot police have said that the farmer in whose land the alleged training was held, told them that he had no idea that rifle training was part of the programme. “A case has been registered and investigation is on,” Amarnath Reddy, Superintendent of Police, told reporters in Bagalkot on January 9.

SRS founder Pramod Mutalik claimed that air guns were used for the training, and not real weapons. “Every year, we conduct personality development programmes that include rifle training. We train interested youth between 20-30 years of age. This is done to promote values of nationalism and patriotism among the youth,” he said.