Party leaders link it to their involvement in anti-CAA protests

The Communist Party of India (CPI) State headquarters situated at Vaiyyalikaval in Bengaluru was attacked in the early hours of Wednesday by a group of men who set fire to six bikes parked on the office premises.

Two of the bikes were completely gutted, while the others were partially damaged. Party posters stocked in the godown too were also reduced to ashes, according to the police.

There was a family of four adults and two children, along with five youth activists and students staying at the office at the time of the attack. However, no one was injured.

According to the police, Shivaraj Biradar, party member, was asleep on the first floor. The security guard, who was asleep on the ground floor of the building, noticed smoke billowing from the parking lot and rushed out and to put out the blaze at around 1 a.m. By then other members and neighbours joined them and managed to contain the fire.

By the time people rushed out, the gang members fled the scene. They doused the fire before alerting the police. The police collected CCTV camera footage from a neighbouring house for further investigation.

‘Attack on rights’

G. Babu, assistant secretary, Bengaluru District committee, termed it “an attack on democratic rights and the right to resist”.

He alleged, “The incident has direct links to the party’s involvement in the resistance to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens proposed by the Union government.”

CPI members staging a protest at Malleswaram on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: G. Sampath Kumar

Party workers staged a protest at Malleswaram Circle on Wednesday afternoon to condemn the incident.

Following a complaint from the CPI State unit, Vyalikaval police registered case under sections for IPC for arson and trespass. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Chetan Singh Rathore said they were looking into all angles and analysing the CCTV camera footage to identify the accused.

The accused came on two motorcycles and two of them wearing helmet entered the office premises, poured petrol on the bikes before setting them on fire. A Hoysala patrolling vehicle is usually stationed near the office, but it was not there at the time of the incident. Even the security guards from the neighbouring buildings failed to notice incident.