Hubbali: The tragedy of the five-storey building collapse here is may take political colour as the father-in-law of former Congress minister, Vinay Kulkarni is one of its owners and his wife and daughter performed the pooja at its ground-breaking ceremony.
The photograph of the event has circulated in the media and it’s believed BJP MP, Pralhad Joshi may use it to attack Mr Kulkarni, who is likely to be fielded from Dharwad this Lok Sabha poll, as his father-in-law, Gangappa Sinthri, against whom a case has been registered, has not been detained two days after the incident.
All five persons involved are absconding and Hubballi-Dharwad police commissioner, M.N. Nagaraj said two teams of DCPs had been formed to arrest them. Sources say Mr Kulkarni, who has been camping at the venue of the building collapse to supervise the rescue operation, has advised his father-in-law to surrender tp police to avoid causing him embarrassment.
The decision to institute a magisterial probe into the incident has not gone down well with BJP leaders, who are demanding an investigation by a retired judge. “The completion certificate is given unscrupulously by Hub—balli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation. An inquiry should be conducted into whether the authorities had inspected the venue and cleared all formalities before giving permission for construction. The probe should be conducted by a retired district judge and stringent action should be taken against the building owners and engineers,” Mr Joshi said.
