The arrest of a terror suspect and the picking up of three journalists, including the editor of a local Urdu daily from Kalaburagi, have sent shockwaves among the public, while also exposing chinks in surveillance by the police who failed to keep tab on the activities of these elements.

Senior police officials who spoke to The Hindu on the condition of anonymity said that keeping tab on the happenings in Kalaburagi had become daunting with the emergence of “exclusive Muslim colonies”, after one of the worst instances of communal violence in December 1993 following the demolition of the Babri Masjid.