India, Nov. 9 -- The ongoing agitation by sugarcane farmers in Karnataka's Belagavi district took a violent turn on Friday. Several police personnel suffered injuries and multiple vehicles were vandalised after a crowd of protesting farmers engaged in stone pelting near the Hattaragi toll plaza on National Highway 48.

Earlier, the protests by the farmers were centred around the Mudalagi taluk's Gurlapur Cross for about a week, after which thousands of agitators led by Chunnappa Pujeri, the state president of Karnataka State Farmers' Association, withheld the protest granting two days' time to the state government to revise the rates of sugarcane crops to Rs 3,500 per tonne. However, since there was no response from the ruling Congress go...