A 45-year-old farmer was allegedly shot dead by the son of a Raitha Sangha leader at Donugodu village of Gonibeedu hobli of the taluk Monday morning, when he opposed the illegal sand mining being undertaken in the village. The deceased has been identified as Jeevegowda.
The villagers on Sunday evening confronted Venkategowda, the Raitha Sangha leader who is allegedly involved in illegal sand mining for many years now. They wanted sand mining to be stopped on the ground that the roads in the village had been damaged by vehicles transporting sand.
Venkategowda told the residents that they could speak to him about the issue on Monday morning. Accordingly, 20 villagers approached him at his house, leading to a war of words between them and Venkategowda. Devaraju, Venkategowda’s son, brought a double barrel gun from his house and fired indiscriminately at the villagers.
Jeevegowda, who was in the front, suffered bullet injuries on his chest and collapsed. He died on the way to hospital. Venkategowda hit Sudhish, another protestor, on the head with a stick. Venkategowda’s wife Gowramma brought a machete from the house and severed the hand of Swamy, another villager.
The village residents then caught Venkategowda, Gowramma and Devaraj, locked them up in their house and handed them over to the police. The enraged residents broke the windowpanes of Venkategowda’s house and car.
Jeevegowda’s body was sent to the Hassan government hospital for post mortem. Security has been tightened in Donugodu village.
