Youth whose social media post led to violence in Hubballi appears for PU exam

Hubballi: The student whose alleged social media post led to violence in the old town of Hubballi on April 16 night, appeared for the second Pre-University exam on Friday with police protection.

The examination started on Friday and will go on till May 18. The first paper was Business Studies.

Police took the student Abhishek Hiremath from the Hubballi sub-jail at Ashok Nagar to the college in a police vehicle.

He had allegedly posted a video showing a saffron flag on a mosque, which is said to be the root cause behind the violence.

A large number of Muslims went on the rampage damaging many police vehicles, a hospital and a Hanuman temple nearby.

The Hubballi police have arrested a cleric Wasim Pathan and 128 others in this connection. A hunt is on to arrest the remaining accused, police said.

Police suspect that Pathan had climbed on a police vehicle and gave a speech which instigated the mob. However, the cleric has denied the charge saying that he was trying to calm the crowd.