Mangaluru, (The Hindu): Superintendent of Police Sudheer Kumar Reddy C.H. on Sunday said that action will be taken against those who reportedly made an attempt to plant a holy book at a place of search and circulate images to show the police in poor light.

A team of Bantwal police on Saturday searched the house of Kalandar, who is an accused in the murder of RSS activist Sharath Madiwala. Kalandar is said to be among the three persons who assaulted Sharath Madiwala at his laundry in B.C. Road on July 4 that led to his death. Kalandar is reportedly at large. The police have so far arrested 10 persons, including one of the three persons who is said to have assaulted Sharath Madiwala.

The police first searched the house of Kalandar’s wife and then the house of Kalandar’s parents in a village in Bantwal. Many incriminating documents and articles related to the crime were recovered from the two houses. The search was done after serving the family members search warrants. The whole search operation went on for nearly eight hours and was videographed. The search was done in the presence of two government witnesses, Mr. Reddy said.

In the evening, a few photographs were circulated on WhatsApp showing a holy book among those strewn in the house of Kalandar’s parents and accusing the police of hurting religious sentiments.

Refuting the allegations, Mr. Reddy told The Hindu that the police have not shown any disregard or disrespect to religious books during the search operation. When a religious book was among the articles picked during the search, the investigation officer rightfully handed it to an elderly relative of Kalandar, who took it inside the house. Similarly, the police returned a cheque book and other important documents to Kalandar’s relative, Mr. Reddy said.

Affirming utmost respect the police give to religious values and sentiments, Mr. Reddy said that the police have evidence that the religious book was planted among the books strewn in the house and pictures of it was circulated with an intention to create communal tension. Action was being taken against those who tried to play this mischief, he said.