But tourism minister R V Deshpande is unaware of the brutal assault that happened in his home districtThe issue of the brutal attack by Gokarna cops on foreigners partying at Kudle beach, Gokarna, on February 14 has escalated with a few of the victims reporting about the incident to their respective embassies.A foreign tourist, who is trying to coordinate with all the tourists who were allegedly assaulted, told“Many of them have given their statements to their embassies through emails and phone calls about the incident. It is learnt that foreign governments are taking up the issue with the Indian government.” Embassies of Sweden, Australia, America, United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal have been alerted about the attack.Even as last week’s attack on foreign tourists by Karnataka police on Gokarna beach sparked off a heated debate in the social media about police excess and tourists’ safety in India, the Karnataka government’s response has been distant and undemonstrative at best.Tourism minister R V Deshpande, who has been going high-decibel about the coastal circuit project to attract foreign tourists to the state, maintained he was not aware of the incident. Interestingly, Gokarna falls in his home district of Uttara Kannada.In its report 200 foreigners accuse Gokarna cops of brutal assault at V-Day party (Feb 19), Bangalore Mirror had reported how police not only gatecrashed a party of tourists in a forest area behind Kudle beach, but also unleashed a wave of brutality. Following the incident, many of them moved to ‘safer’ Goa.Whensought to know what measures were being taken to allay the fears of foreign tourists, Deshpande retorted: “I will be visiting Uttara Kannada on Saturday and will look into the matter then.” However, one of his officials defended the police action against partying tourists stating that they cannot allow a temple town like Gokarna to become like Goa — where many foreigners indulge in drug trade and dress inappropriately.The saving grace has been home minister K J George as he had taken cognisance of the incident and ordered an inquiry by the additional superintendent of police. George said: “I read Bangalore Mirror’s reports about the incident and spoke to Uttara Kannada superintendent of police R Dileep. He informed me that a DySP rank officer is conducting an inquiry, but I ordered him to rope in an additional superintendent of police. The incident is a shocker. It should not have happened.”When asked why cops attacked foreign nationals instead of initiating legal action if the latter were involved in nefarious activities, George said, “I cannot say the cops have done wrong or right until the inquiry report is submitted. Once the report reaches the state capital, necessary action will be initiated against the culprits, whoever they are.”UK, Australia, USA, France, Czech Republic, Israel, Italy, Germany, Spain, Chile, Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands, Brazil, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Iran, Canada, Romania, Belarus, Russia, Ireland, GuatemalaAt night, cops gatecrash a party on a private land in the forest behind Kudle Beach, GokarnaMany tourists flee the area in fear. They also start gathering evidence of the attack. They begin collecting photos of injuries suffered, written and audio statements of tourists. They start identifying police officers involved in the incident and seek legal advice on how to proceedMore tourists flee the area in fear of continuing violence. Ten foreign tourists, under legal advice, attempted to submit a complaint to Karwar Superintendent of Police. They are forced to endure a five-hour ordeal where Gokarna police threatened to prosecute for trespassing into forest land. They leave to Goa fearing reprisals from cops.Even more tourists leave. Most of them contact their embassies and inform them about the attack. They also get in touch with the news media.