Minutes after Prof Kalburgi was shot dead, Bhuvith Shetty, claiming to be the co-convenor of Bantwal unit of Bajrang Dal, justified the killing and warned that a similar fate awaited those who ‘mock’ at Hinduism.

“Then it was U R Anantamoorty and now its M M Kalburgi. Mock Hinduism and die a dog’s death. And dear K S Bhagwan, you are next,” says the message tweeted at 10.41 am from his twitter handle @GarudaPurana.

Both the tweets were retweeted by many on Sunday, triggering a heated debate on social media. Though Shetty deleted his tweets later, the screenshots of his tweets continued to go viral in social media throughout the day.

Sangh Parivar activists had organised celebrations in Karnataka, including Mangaluru, and burst crackers on hearing the news of the death of Ananthamurthy an year ago. The Bantwal police have registered cyber crime case.