Summary:
Shivamogga: Lakshman, 65, a farmer who was protesting against forest department died on Friday evening in Masaruru village near Ripponpet.Villagers who cultivated forest land in Masaruru got a notice from the forest department to return their encroached land on which they had grown maize. On Friday morning, villagers gathered and staged a protest till evening. Lakshman suffered a heart attack and died on the way to the hospital.Villagers took his body to the RFO office in Arasalu and staged a protest demanding compensation and suspension of RFO Hanumantappa.BJP legislators Hartalu Halappa, Araga Jnanendra and MP Raghavendra too joined the protest.Lakshman is survived by three children and two wives..