BANGALORE: Chaos prevailed in Koramangala on Wednesday evening when hundreds of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) personnel staged a lightning protest in support of P Ravindranath, the additional DGP who is accused of clicking "obscene" photos of two women in a coffee shop.

"Our ADGP is being framed in the incident. Many senior IPS officers do not like our ADGP because he is a clean and straight officer. This has won him enemies," said a police personnel. Women and children from their families joined the protest, sat in the middle of the road and demanded withdrawal of the case registered against IPS officer Ravindranath.

At 7pm, a mob blocked traffic at the bustling KSRP Circle, near the Forum mall. Two police vehicles were sent following an altercation between local police and KSRP platoons. The mob stoned the vehicles and burnt tyres. As the situation became tense, traffic was diverted.

Ravindranath visited the KSRP headquarters on Hosur Road at 5.30pm. An hour after he left, the mob took to the streets. Even at 8.30pm, there was no reprieve as the protesters demanded police commissioner R Auradkar come to the spot and explain why their boss was "insulted".

When KSRP DIG Sonia Narang and IGP Malini Krishnamurthy arrived to speak to the protesters, they said they would not relent. To make matters worse, the public address system failed. When Krishnamurthy told the protesters a solution had to be found, they shot back, "We need an explanation why was he locked up even before a complaint was lodged.''

"He is a nice human and helps anyone who approaches him. It is evident he is been framed," said Geeta Venkatesh, one of the protesters.

The situation eased when Ravindranath visited the protesters and requested them to withdraw the agitation. He later went to a local TV studio to participate in a panel discussion.

