Belagavi Police have arrested one more man accused of assaulting a NWKRTC bus conductor over a language row.
With the arrest of Mohan Hanchinal of Chikka Balekundri village, the number of those arrested has risen to five. One of the accused already arrested is an unnamed minor.
Injured conductor Mahadevappa Hukkeri is still under treatment in Belagavi.
He complained to the police that some men beat him up for saying that he did not speak Marathi.
Meanwhile, some villagers of Chikka Balekundri have registered a case under PoCSO Act provisions, saying that the conductor was trying to molest a minor girl on the bus.
Bus service between Karnataka and Maharashtra stopped after some activists of the Shiv Sena (UBT) damaged KSRTC buses in Pune and Kolhapur.
Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists stopped some Maharashtra buses in Athani and Ramdurg in Belagavi district.
As of now, buses are plying only up to the border. NWKRTC buses may start inter-State operations by Monday, officials said.
Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik has said that MSRTC buses will not operate till talks are held between Ministers concerned of both the States.
Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has condemned the attack on the conductor and KSRTC buses.
Mr. Reddy is scheduled to visit Belagavi on Monday.
He has called for action against those who attacked the conductor and those who damaged KSRTC buses. He has called for peaceful and harmonious living by various linguistic communities. He said that defacing buses in both States serves no purpose and can only further tension.
