Maha: Kolhapur police use force to disperse crowd agitating over Tipu Sultan

Tension prevailed in Kolhapur on Wednesday after police used force to disperse a crowd that objected to the alleged use of Tipu Sultan’s image along with an objectionable audio message as social media “status” by some locals, an official said.

Demanding action against those who allegedly put the image of the 18th-century Mysore ruler along with an offensive dialogue on their social media profiles, a group of right-wing activists held a protest on Tuesday. Police pacified them and told them to return.

Police also told the protesters that they had booked some people in that connection, the official said.

However, the protesters again hit the streets on Wednesday.

“Some organisations had called for a Kolhapur bandh and the members of these organisations gathered at Shivaji Chowk today. After their demonstration ended, the crowd began to disperse but some miscreants started pelting stones, forcing police to use force against these people to disperse them,” said Kolhapur Superintendent of Police Mahendra Pandit.

The SP said they appealed to the agitators to maintain peace and withdraw the agitation.

Dipak Kesarkar, the guardian minister, said that action has been taken against those who had used Tipu Sultan’s image along with an objectionable audio message.