Iskon devotee from City found dead in Mangaluru

A Bengaluru-based Iskcon follower was found dead at Adamkudru near Kallapu on the outskirts of Mangaluru on Sunday.

The deceased is Ravi Kumar, a resident of Thippenahalli in Bengaluru. He was a MTech graduate from National Institute of  Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal. The family members have alleged that Iskcon is responsible for his death.

Clement, a resident of Adamkudru, who ventured out to fish in the river, noticed Kumar’s body which had a wire around his neck tied to a stone.

Ravi Kumar had completed his MTech from NITK in Surathkal. He topped the institute, said Ravi’s brother, Narendra.

He came in contact with the Iskcon while studying at NITK and had been closely associated with the Iskcon for the past four years. He would normally speak with his family members twice or thrice in a week.

“However, there was no news from him for the past one week and we thought he would be busy in discourses,” he added.

Family seeks probe
“It was one of his classmates who informed us that Ravi was not reachable since Friday. On hearing the news, we visited Mangaluru and Iskcon failed to give us any convincing answer. We searched for him in Udupi.”

“It was the head of Iskcon who informed us on Sunday that his body was found in the river,” Narendra said.

Ravi’s father, Narasimhamurthy, met City Police Commissioner S Murugan in the hospital and demanded an impartial probe into the suspicious death of Ravi.

A case has been registered in Ullal police station and investigation is on.