Mangaluru

The Congress activists protested in Mangaluru and Udupi demanding the arrest of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa, who has been accused of corruption by civil contractor Santosh Patil, who was found dead in a lodge in Udupi on Tuesday.

Former Distrist Youth Congress president Mithun Rai led a group of Youth Congress activists and tried to storm into a hotel in the city where Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was holding a series of meetings with BJP party leaders.

Raising slogans against Mr. Eshwarappa, the Youth Congress activists showed black flags and tried to enter into the hotel. The police, who were present in large numbers, stopped the activists and took them away. Mr. Rai and 24 other Youth Congress activists were taken into preventive detention, the police said.

Congress activsits carried out protest outside the Shambhavi lodge in Udupi where the body of the contractor was found. Here too, the activists were taken under preventive custody, the police said.