Overview
- The Tamil Nadu-registered tourist bus, intercepted in Chikkamagaluru with 48 students aboard, was seized after police found inscriptions allegedly praising Dawood Ibrahim.
- Basavanahalli Police registered a suo motu FIR under Section 197(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a provision that targets acts seen as harmful to national unity.
- The driver and the bus operator from Tamil Nadu were detained for questioning, and officers arranged another vehicle so the students could continue their trip.
- Local Hindu groups gathered at the spot and protested, and police moved the bus to the station to keep tensions from growing and to secure the evidence.
- Investigators are checking if the branding was deliberate or negligent and whether the bus, reported by local outlets as TN21AU2699 with slogans referencing the Mumbai underworld, traveled through other districts with the same displays.