Karnataka police on Friday arrested two people for allegedly strewing nails on the stretch of road leading to the controversial Datta Peetha in this district of the state.

The arrested have been identified as Mohammad Shahbaaz and Wahid Hussain — both residents of Dubai Nagar in the city. An investigation revealed involvement of many more people in the crime and police have launched a hunt for them.

According to police, the accused had purchased nails in large quantities from shops and on the day of the Shobha Yatra to Datta Peetha, had strewn them on the road.

This had rendered tyres of many vehicles flat and fortunately no tragedy was reported as devotees had arrived in thousands and there was continuous movement of vehicles. A large number of devotees who reached the shrine on foot, also faced difficulties.

Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) members along with police personnel had cleared the long stretch.

Reacting to the incident, National General Secretary of BJP and local MLA C.T. Ravi had slammed the radical mindset of people and hailed the Hindu devotees for reaching the shrine in spite of the difficulty.

A separate police team was formed to nab the miscreants. The police went to surrounding hardware stores and collected information on purchase of large quantities of nails and zeroed in on the accused.

Datta Jayanthi and Shobha Yatra were carried out on December 8. As per the orders of the court and the government, Hindu priests were allowed to perform poojas in the controversial shrine for the first time.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)