Hubballi: Litterateurs, upset with the slow pace of investigation into the killing of rationalist, Dr M M Kalburgi, believe it has failed to get as much attention from investigators as the murder of senior journalist and activist, Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru last year.
“We have suspected the involvement of right wing activists in the murder of Dr Kalburgi for years. But the investigating agency has failed to make any arrests even three years after his death. The case should be treated on par with the murder of Gauri Lankesh and solved as soon as possible,” said a member of the Dr Kalburgi Hatya Virodhi Samiti, Shankar Halagatti.
Ms Umadevi, wife of the murdered scholar, has also appealed to the government to nab those who were behind the killing of her husband and not just the men who shot him dead at his home in Dharwad. While welcoming the detention of several suspects in the murder of Ms Lankesh, she deplored the delay in the government tracking Dr Kalburagi’s killers. “We have heard that the investigation of my husband’s murder is in the final stages. Those who shot him outside the house may have been hired for the job. So the government needs to find those who were really responsible and punish them,” she added.
Several rationalists here contend that the investigation has been delayed due to lack of coordination between the state’s investigating agency and the SIT team of Maharashtra, which is probing the killing of Dr Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare. They also believe that transfers of police officials of the investigating agency is to blame and have demanded a high court monitored inquiry into the case.
