Karnataka, India: A Vishwa Hindu Parishad member fell to death on Tuesday, as police charged batons and fired tear gas on a gathering to avert a clash over the celebration of 18th century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan’s 265th birth anniversary at Madikeri of Karnataka in India, police said.

The clashes erupted after a Muslim group that was taking out a procession to mark the Karnataka government’s Tipu Sultan Birth Anniversary celebration through Madikeri town came face to face with Hindutva activists protesting against the celebration of the birth anniversary in the middle of the town, reported the Indian Express.

 ‘The victim (DS Kuttappa, in his sixties) succumbed to injuries he sustained after accidentally falling from a retaining wall to the ground 15-20 feet below after he ran away from a trouble spot where a huge gathering was charged batons to disperse to avoid a clash on the birth anniversary celebrations,’ Kodagu district superintendent of police Vartika Katiyar told IANS.

Nestled in the southern Western Ghats region, the hilly town of Madikeri is about 270km from Bengaluru in southwest Karnataka.

Denying initial reports that Kuttappa died in a clash or stone-throwing between protestors and supporters, Katiyar said as almost everybody ran helter-skelter to avoid being caned, the victim too fled from the trouble spot and ran towards a compound wall of a hospital and jumped off without noticing it was on a hilltop.

‘He (Kuttappa) did not die in stone pelting or clash as we dispersed the mob to avoid such an incident and prevent the situation going out of control,’ Katiyar clarified.

Though the victim was rushed to the state-run hospital, he succumbed to head injuries that he sustained in the fall.

‘The situation has been brought under control as we have imposed a ban on assembly of more than five people in the town under section 144 of the CrPC,’ Katiyar added.

Condoling Kuttappa’s death, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaraimaiah told reporters in Bengaluru that there was a deliberate attempt to prevent the state government and the people from celebrating Tipu’s birthday (jayanthi).

‘Protests against jayanthi are intolerance. The Bihar assembly election results showed there is no place for intolerance in the country,’ Siddaramaiah said.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party sought a probe into the death of Kuttappa, even as the party boycotted Tipu jayanthi celebrations across the state.

The Indian Express also reported that a grand event to mark the birth anniversary was organised at the Banquet Hall in the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Tuesday morning with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and several of his cabinet ministers in attendance.

The opposition to the celebration of the birthday of the former Mysore ruler is an agenda of communal forces, Siddaramaiah said.

‘Tipu Sultan was secular. He fought the British rulers in three wars. In a way the freedom struggle began with the Mysore wars between Tipu and the British,’ the Karnataka CM said.

Calling Tipu Sultan, who is considered a folk hero among sections of the Muslim community in Karnataka, a fanatic is a baseless charge, he added. ‘He contributed to the Sringeri Mutt, and temples like the Nanjangud and Ranganatha Swami Temples.’

The Kshetriya Sanghchalak for the RSS for the Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana region, V Nagaraj, had on Friday stated that the Sangh would lend its weight to groups protesting against the celebration of Tipu Sultan’s birthday since the former king of Mysore was an ‘intolerant ruler’.

‘Most people are opposed to this celebration. Tipu was the ruler of Mysore but at the same time he was the most intolerant king. It is recorded in history not by the RSS. His sword was meant to kill kafirs,’ the RSS functionary had stated.