Farmers leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, Writer Kamala Hampana and others take part in a condolence meeting of M.M. Kalburgi at NGO Hall in Bengaluru on Thursday (Photo: KPN)
Mangaluru: Mangaluru North Police arrested Rama Sene leader Prasad Attavar for allegedly posting messages against M.M. Kalburgi in a social media site. However, he was later granted bail.
According to police, message against Kalburgi and those who spoke against Hindu Gods was posted in a social networking site. This page was allegedly in the name of Prasad Attavar. The message is also reportedly making rounds on WhatsApp.
The police officials took Prasad for questioning on Thursday morning and later arrested him. He was charged with IPC Section 153A and 506. However, Attavar has said that he had nothing to do with the post and claimed it was a fake one.
Attavar was a member of Sri Rama Sene, led by Pramod Muthalik, till 2009. Later he left the outfit and formed the Rama Sene. Muthalik’s outfit had gained notoriety for moral policing in Dakshina Kannada district. They had attacked some young men and women at a pub here in January 2009 alleging ‘immoral activities’. Attavar was one among the main accused in the pub attack. He was also arrested for alleged links with underworld don Ravi Poojary in 2010.
Earlier, Bantwal police had on August 31 arrested Bhuvith Shetty, the co-convener of the Bajrang Dal unit there for posting a tweet justifying the murder of Kalburgi and warning that scholar K.S. Bhagwan, another rationalist free-thinker, would be their next target. Shetty, who later withdrew his remarks from Twitter, was released on bail.
Kalburgi was shot dead at his residence in Dharwad by unidentified assailants, an incident which had evoked nationwide protest. Police had released sketches of the suspects on Wednesday.
Police rule out property dispute as motive
Though there has been no major breakthrough in Dr M.M. Kalburgi's murder case, police have reportedly ruled out property dispute as a possible reason behind his cold blooded assassination on August 30 at his residence in Dharwad. According to top police sources, property dispute may not be the reason behind the crime.
“Dr. Kalburgi's murder seems to be well planned supari killing, which has been executed by professional killers. Property dispute may not be the reason behind his assassination,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.
“It could be a new fringe Right Wing outfit in Maharashrta and Karnataka, which has reportedly adopted a new modus operandi of spreading fear by killing rationalists and is hiring professional killers, probably from outside the two states to execute the job. Though there are number of Right Wing outfits in Karnataka, none of them has been involved in heinous crimes so far. They have been involved in moral policing, arson, law and order situation, but have never posed a serious security threat to the State. This seems to be a breakaway from one of the groups. The case should be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for an inter-state investigation,” the officer added.
The preliminary investigation has revealed that the septuagenarian Kannada scholar was killed by a 7.65 country made gun. “The use of the illicit firearm shows that the killers may not have been paid a huge amount. We are awaiting the ballistic report from the Forensic Science Laboratory, which will throw light on the weapon used for the crime and whether a similar weapon was used in the assassination of Prof Narendra Dabholkar in Pune and Mr. Govind Pansare in Kolhapur,” the officer added. The case is being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department.
