Bullet went off accidentally from gunman's weapon: SP

Injured legislator C C Patil stable after surgery

Gadag Superintendent of Police Dr S P Sharanappa on Monday said that Nargund MLA and former minister C C Patil was injured after a bullet went off accidentally from the pistol of his gunman at Menasagi village in Ron taluk on Sunday night.

The MLA’s gunman Manjunath Dibbadamani was also injured in the incident. A case of negligence has been registered against him. Patil, the second-time BJP legislator, had been to Menasagi to lay the foundation stone for a road project when the incident took place.

To rule out any foul play, two special teams led by the jurisdictional deputy superintendent of police and circle inspector of police have been constituted to probe the incident, Dr Sharanappa said after inspecting the spot on Monday.

 The police have registered a case against Patil’s political opponents and local BJP leaders Gopi Hiregoudar, Basanagouda Hiregoudar Hanumanthagouda, Shivanagouda and Ramegowda who allegedly tried to disrupt the foundation-laying programme, Dr Sharanappa said.

According to Menasagi residents, a section of local BJP workers led by Basanagouda Hiregoudar pulled down a pandal and switched off a generator at the programme venue. Subsequently, they had heated exchanges with Patil and almost roughed him up. After the gunman escorted the MLA to his vehicle, a gunshot was heard, eye-witnesses told Deccan Herald.

Hoping that Patil would crossover to the KJP, Hiregoudar, a former police officer, was lobbying hard for the BJP ticket to contest the ensuing Assembly elections from Nargund. But, he was upset as Patil made it clear that he would continue in the BJP and also contest the Assembly elections as a BJP candidate.

Patil stable

Doctors attending on the injured Patil on Monday said that he was stable.
He has been admitted to the KLE Society’s Dr Prabhakar Kore Hospital in Belgaum and would be kept under observation for 72 hours, doctors said.

Surgeon Ashok Godhi said, Patil was operated upon for over four hours by a team of eight specialists. His spleen had ruptured and was removed. The bullet had caused one foot long damage in the abdomen. Gangrene was noticed in the large intestine, which was cut by six inches to prevent it from spreading.

The bullet had passed through the abdomen and fractured a chest bone. About three litres of blood had accumulated in his stomach and had to be cleaned. He was given ten units of blood. He needs a few weeks to recover completely, Dr Godhi said.

Karnataka Janata Party president B S Yeddyurappa, former Union minister V Dhananjay Kumar, Rajya Sabha member Prabhakar Kore, ministers Kalkappa Bandi, Umesh Katti, MLAs Abhay Patil and Lakshman Savadi visited the hospital and inquired the health of Patil.