Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy pays homage to Rajkumar in Bangalore on Friday. (PTI)

Bangalore, April 14: Bangalore was back being the country’s showpiece infotech hub a day after eight lives were lost in battles between police and fans mourning for screen icon and Kannadiga hero Rajkumar.

The streets bore no trace of yesterday’s rioting or panic. Shops and offices opened after a two-day shutdown and public transport was back on the roads.

The only departure from normal was the stepped-up police presence across the city, including Kanteerava Studios, one of the two sites where police bullets claimed seven lives as rioting mobs tried to get close to the film star on his last journey.

The police had fired first outside Kanteerava stadium, where the body was placed for public viewing, and later in front of the studio, where Rajkumar was buried. The mobs’ stones killed constable Manjunath Malladi.

The government had no explanation today for the past two days’ violence ? the news of the actor’s death had sparked street riots on Wednesday ? that had shut down the country’s IT capital and terrorised its population.

The best the police and the ruling Janata Dal (Secular)-BJP coalition could do was hint darkly that the crowds were “incited” by unnamed agents, while the Opposition Congress demanded the resignation of chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

The chief minister, who met Rajkumar’s family at their home, said: “Rajkumar’s fans were not responsible for the violence. It has been incited. There are several things I know and I do not want to discuss it in public.”

Police commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh took the same line, telling reporters: “We are also inquiring if the violence was organised.” He dismissed accusations that his force had been unprepared for the violence during which rampaging mobs vandalised offices, showrooms and even homes, apart from torching vehicles and attacking police stations.

The commissioner also brushed off criticism of the way his men had handled the situation, and instead patted them on the back for acting in a “balanced manner in the face of grave provocation”.

“Killing people is not the way to maintain law and order. It was a tsunami of emotions and it is always an unannounced policy of the government that minimum force be used. Despite it, seven were killed in police firing and one constable died of injuries,” Singh said, adding that 3,000 tear gas shells had been fired.

The Congress accused the government of “total failure” to maintain law and order and sought a judicial probe.

State Congress president Mallikarjuna M. Kharge and former chief minister Dharam Singh said it was obvious that the 10-week-old government lacked experience in tackling such volatile situations.

They demanded the chief minister’s resignation for failing to protect public property.