Title - Don’t panic, cops tell North-East students

Nearly 3,000 people from the Northeast left here on Wednesday, following concerns over possible attacks.“We were surprised to see a large number of students coming to the railway station to book  tickets to return home. Hence, we decided to run two special trains to Guwahati. The first special train has 20 coaches and the second train 18. Additional staff were put on the job to issue tickets,” Bangalore Division of South Western Railway (SWR) Manager Agarwal said. However, Agarwal added that the Railways will not operate any special train on Thursday due to shortage of coaches.Meanwhile, DG & IGP Lalrokhuma Pachuau dismissed rumours of any such attacks in Karnataka.“There are rumours doing the rounds that people from the Northeast in the state will be attacked. Not even a single case of physical assault or verbal threat to people from the Northeast has been reported in the state. However, as a precaution, police chiefs of all districts have been directed to take necessary steps to prevent such incidents,” Pachuau said.“We also had a meeting with Deputy CM and Home Minister R Ashoka in this connection. He has also instructed us to take necessary steps to prevent such incidents in the state,” he added. Meanwhile, city Police Commissioner, B G Jyothiprakash Mirji, said rumours were being spread through text messages and social networking sites.

“There are more than 2.5 lakh Northeastern people in the city and most of the them are students. We have identified places where there is a sizeable population of Northeastern students and have intensified patrolling in such areas with immediate effect. DCPs and ACPs have been asked to meet Northeastern people in their limits and interact with them regularly.

“Policemen have spoken to them and it is learnt that most of them have returned to visit their homes as some of their family members and relatives were injured in the Assam violence.

“But, some have returned fearing that they would also be attacked in the city. However, there is absolutely no reason to panic as police have taken all possible steps to prevent such attacks,” he added.

Further, people who have any information about possible attacks are requested to pass on the message to DCP (Intelligence) V S D’souza on 9480801020.