Kalburgi’s police security withdrawn recently at his request
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah pays tributes to former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi Kannada Varsity M.M. Kalburgi, who was shot dead at his residence in Dharwad on Sunday. (Photo: KPN)
Hubballi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that government will soon decide whether the CBI or CID should investigate the murder of scholar Dr M.M. Kalburgi. Addressing presspersons in Dharwad after paying homage to the researcher, he said the shooting could have been avoided if the writer had continued with the security provided to him by the State government.
He said that few months ago Dr Kalburgi himself had sought discontinuation of police security at his residence. The Government will assign top priority to nab the assailants, he added. The Chief Minister said that government was contemplating high-level probe as various religious heads have exerted pressure on the government in this connection. Home Minister K.J. George, Panchayat Raj Minister H.K. Patil and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundurao had accompanied the Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, IGP (North Range) has said that a team, headed by deputy commissioner of police, has been constituted to conduct probe and it will look into all aspects. The team will comprise five inspectors. He also said the team will investigate into the angle of other similar killings of rationalists Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar in Maharashtra as there was similarity between all these incidents. The police officials are sifting through the CCTV footages installed in other localities in Kalyan Nagar area to trace the two assailants who had arrived on a motorcycle to the house of Dr Kalburgi.
The forensic experts at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) have conducted post-mortem and found that the assailants have fired two rounds on the chest and forehead of the scholar. His body has been kept in Karnataka College for public viewing till 11 am on Monday. Students from various parts of the city and adjacent districts converged at the venue to pay homage.
He faced criticism from Lingayats
Dr M.M. Kalburgi was a scholar of Vachana literature and academic, who was born in Yaragal village of Sindagi taluk in Bijapur district on November 28, 1938. He was presented the National Sahitya Academy award in 2006 for Marga-4, a collection of hundreds of his research articles. He faced severe criticism from his own Lingayat community people in 1980 as he was accused of making derogatory references to 12th century social reformer Basavanna. Last year, the rationalist had spoken against worshipping nude idols in Hinduism.
He has served as professor and dean of Kannada department of Karnataka University and continued his research in Kannada even after retirement. He had served as vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi. He is also a recipient of Janapad, Yakshagana, Pampa, Nrupatunga and Ranna awards. He has written several publications and filed more than 400 research articles. These works are published in four volumes under the name, Marga.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
Next Story
