Shobha Karandlaje to Manipal hospital: Let's have the truth on Paresh Mesta
Bengaluru: Sticking to her party's claim that Hindu activist, Paresh Mesta, was brutally killed on December 8 in Honnavara taluk, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru member of parliament, Shobha Karandlaje on Wednesday urged the Manipal-based Kasturba Medical College to release the report of the postmortem conducted on his body.
Speaking to reporters here, Ms Karandlaje appealed to the hospital to "come out with the truth" and not be afraid of the state government, which has denied any foul play in the death of the activist.
She claimed the doctor, who had performed Paresh's postmortem, had gone missing for the last two days and was under pressure not to disclose the contents of the report.
"Paresh Mesta belonged to the fishermen's community and could swim. Then how could he drown in a well?" she demanded, also alleging that the Sri Rama tattoed on his arm had been scrubbed with a knife. "But the police say Mesta committed suicide. This only shows the government is deliberately trying to close the case," she charged.
The MP said her party leaders would meet Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh on December 15 to persuade him to have Mesta's " killing" investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Alleging that the PFI was involved in the "murder" of the activist, she said the BJP had already urged the state government to ban the organisation.
"Our party has also requested the district authorities of Karwar to let us hold a protest rally in Honnavara to condemn the brutal killing of Paresh Mesta," she added.
Doctor who conducted post-mortem on Mesta body on leave?
Sources at Kasturba Medical College informed Deccan Chronicle that the doctor who conducted the post-mortem, Dr Shankar M Bakkannavar was on three days leave and his absence had nothing to do with the Paresh Mesta murder case. "He will be resuming work most likely on Thursday," added the source. When DC contacted the Medical Superintendent of Kasturba Medical College, Dr (Col) M Dayananda about this, he informed that the doctor had gone out of station on examination duty and did not wish to comment any further about the same.
Mesta’s dad returns Rs 1 lakh cheque
Unhappy with the stand taken by the state government, Kamalakar Mesta, father of Paresh Mesta has declared that he will return the Rs 1 lakh cheque handed over to him by Minister R V Deshpande.
Paresh of Honnavar had gone missing after a clash between two communities on December 6. His body was found in mysterious circumstances in a lake on December 8. The family members and saffron outfits have been claiming that this was a murder committed by the minority community. However he was unhappy with the indifferent attitude of the state government and so decided to return the money. "There is confusing and misleading information about my son's post-mortem report which was provided by the police recently. We are saddened with all this. We want justice and not their money. I will return the cheque which Mr Deshpande had given to me," Kamalakar declared in the presence of journalists.
He demanded that the case be handed over to CBI. A few hours after the press meet, the state government decided to hand over the case to CBI.
Kamalakar expressed his happiness over the state government's decision. "I am hopeful the CBI will give us justice and will investigate the case properly. We feel the state government has been indifferent."
