Pramod Muthalik caught on cam promising riots for a price

Pramod Muthalik, Sri Rama Sene’s president, has courted controversy again. But this time the man behind the infamous Mangalore pub attack might just have revealed the hidden face of the outfit he is heading.

A sting operation carried out by TV channel Headlines Today and Tehelka magazine reveals that the Sene and its leader Muthalik are willing to stage riots for a price in Bangalore or Mangalore.

If you are willing to spend Rs60 lakh, the Sene can rent you 50 goons to vandalise, say, an art exhibition or any public function, Muthalik reportedly told the channel.

Muthalik, however, says he has been framed by the reporters. “Two people came to meet me but I did not say any such thing,” Muthalik said. “Hang me if I have committed any crime.”

The Sene, which calls itself the moral police, was behind the attack on young women at a pub in Mangalore on January 24, 2009. The girls were assaulted and dragged out for what the brigade called indecent behaviour.

The sting operation shows Muthalik accepting Rs10,000 from an undercover reporter who posed as an artist, according to the TV footage. The reporter told Muthalik he was a painter and said wanted to emulate artist MF Husain.

Muthalik introduced the reporter with his aides Prasad Attavar and Vasantkumar Bhavani and said the Sene would help vandalise his art exhibition, at a sensitive locality, dominated by Muslims, the footage reveals.