TN Cops ‘Stray’ Into Karnataka Territory; Question Home Minister

The incident occurred on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border at Attibele in Bengaluru Rural district on 9 April.

Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Image used for representation.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Basavaraj Bommai)

Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai faced embarrassment when police personnel from neighbouring Tamil Nadu, guarding borders in view of the coronavirus lockdown, unaware of his identity briefly stopped him and sought to know the purpose of his outing during a visit to the area.

The incident occurred on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border at Attibele in Bengaluru Rural district on Thursday, 9 April, with the policemen asking Bommai about his identity and to show the requisite pass for moving around during the nation- wide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The police personnel from Tamil Nadu had reportedly entered the Karnataka limits.

Meanwhile, the Bengaluru police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao and Additional Commisioner Sandeep Patil who were following him reached the spot and sorted out the issue.

According to the Superintendent of Police (Bengaluru Rural) Ravi D Channannavar, the Tamil Nadu policemen had put up barricades at least 100 metres inside the Karnataka side to effectively implement the lockdown in their state.

They were asked to move back into their limits, he added.

"When our honourable minister visited the place, policemen from Tamil Nadu put up barricades 100 metres inside (Karnataka). There is a narrow road where the jurisdiction ends, they had come there. We asked them to go back and block the road in their jurisdiction," Channannavar told PTI.