The BJP on Sunday reiterated its demand for a NIA probe into the communal violence in Nagamangala by alleging that the local people had suspected the involvement of persons from Kerala with links to banned outfits like the PFI. 

In a social media post, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashok claimed that locals also suspected that these alleged attackers had bought 150 masks and also destroyed CCTV cameras before the attack. Following this, they were of the view that the attack was pre-determined, he maintained. 

Arguing that there was a strong suspicion of the role of banned outfits and communal forces behind the Nagamangala attack, he said it would be difficult for the State police to solve the case. Only the NIA would be able to bring out the truth, he claimed. 

He also claimed that there was a suspicion whether the police were under pressure from the banned organisations as the first 23 accused in the FIR were actually victims and not the attackers. 

Meanwhile, former Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan, who is heading a fact-finding committee formed by the BJP to bring out truth with respect to the Nagamangala violence, said the committee would visit the trouble-hit town on Monday. 

He maintained that the Nagamangala violence was yet another instance of the law and order failure in the State. Accusing the government of indulging in appeasement of certain sections, he said such a policy had resulted in the failure of law and order.