Pub attack mastermind is married to the cause

Behind bars: Pramod Mutalik in a jail ward at the district hospital in Madikere yesterday pic/kpn

Police have formally booked the head of Sri Rama Sene, but he isn't terribly worried as the ruling BJP is grateful to him for building it a support base in the northern districts of Karnataka.

Not Hindu enough?

Mutalik stood by the BJP during the 2004 elections by sending his men to campaign. He fell out with the party a little later when he felt it wasn't doing enough to promote the Hindu cause.

Hailing from Hukkeri near Belguam, Mutalik graduated in B Com from Gupte College in 1972. He has three brothers, a charted accountant, a journalist and an advocate, and has remained a faithful member of the RSS.

During his college days, Mutalik was an active member of the ABVP, the student wing of the BJP. When he joined the RSS, he became a Pracharak. It was then that he reportedly decided not to marry.

Ashok Singhal, who heads the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, introduced him to the Bagranj Dal and urged him to establish a base in Karnataka for its activities.

Mutalik issued aggressive statements in the course of the Baba Budangiri and Hubli Idgah Maidan controversies, and helped the BJP's election prospects.

He allegedly participated in the demolition of the Babri mosque, and was looking forward to a career in politics. But he found no help, and was denied a ticket by the BJP.

Started early

In 2005 Mutalik tried to start a Shiv Sena unit, but that Mumbai organisation's anti-Karnataka rhetoric put paid to his dreams. He later started his own outfit and called it Hindu Sene. The same group then morphed into Sri Rama Sene.

Mutalik's name cropped up recently when his men allegedly flung a pig's head inside the J C Nagar mosque in Bangalore. The Mumbai police Anti-Terror Squad have questioned him in connection with the September 2008 Malegoan bomb blast case.

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