Police say fans tried to steal ashes after Vishnuvardhan's cremation, but Kannada superstar's secretary denies anything like this occurred

Earth to earth, ashes to ashes?

Police say fans tried to steal ashes after Vishnuvardhan's cremation, but Kannada superstar's secretary denies anything like this occurred

Police officers guarding the cremation site of actor Vishnuvardhan were taken by surprise yesterday when fans sneaked in to gather the last remains of the departed matinee idol.

"We were concerned that people will get hurt as the pyre was still alive, when the fans sneaked to take away the ashes," said a police officer. "We had not anticipated this," said ACP Durgiah, who was at the spot. "Now security's been raised." An extra platoon of Karnataka State Reserve Police and an indefinite number of city policemen have been assigned to guard the ashes, even as hordes of fans poured into the cremation site.

Meanwhile, fans are furious over the police treating them as thieves. "We wanted to see Vishnu's face
yesterday and they did not allow us. They treated us like a mob and caned us.u00a0 Now they are calling us thieves," said an angry fan.

Radhakrishna, personal secretary to Vishnuvardhan said, "We can understand fans' emotions but we were also concerned about their safety. But there were no incidents of people stealing ashes. The ashes were immersed in Kaveri near Srirangapattana yesterday afternoon." Bhanuprakasah Sharma, a high profile priest, who is the regular priest for VIPs including Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, performed the rituals.

Not the first time

Policemen had faced a similar problem when Dr Rajkumar passed away in 2006. Then constables and two inspectors guarded the site. However, it did not get so complicated because the body was buried in Kantheerava Studios and not cremated. So people only came to collect the soil of the place.

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