Rs 5L reward announced for info on Kalburgi's killers

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday announced a reward of Rs five lakh for any person who provides information on Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi’s killers.

Siddaramaiah made the announcement after meeting a delegation comprising litterateurs, seers and Kalburgi’s son Srivijay in Bengaluru who sought speedy investigation into the scholar’s murder. The identity of the informer will be protected, the chief minister said.

Siddaramaiah said the investigation was in progress and expressed confidence that the culprits would be nabbed soon. Kalburgi was shot dead by unidentified men at his Dharwad residence on August 30. The CID has been investigating the case.

Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) founder Narendra Dabholkar’s daughter Mukta and CPI leader Govind Pansare’s daughter-in-law Megha were part of the delegation to show their solidarity. The litterateurs in the delegation comprised Girish Karnad, Baraguru Ramachandrappa, Chandrashekar Patil, S G Siddaramaiah among others.

The murder case of Dabholkar has remained unsolved two years after he was assassinated in Pune. Pansare was murdered in February this year. 

The delegation impressed upon the chief minister that the case should not be handed over to the CBI as the central investigating agency was not competent in handling such case. The CBI was yet to crack the Dabholkar case even after two years, they pointed out.

They also sought that the government take steps to bring into effect the proposed anti-superstition bill.

The chief minister said enacting an anti-superstition law was under the consideration of the government.

Earlier, a meeting of like-minded rationalists was held in memory of Kalburgi at Gandhi Bhavan in the City. Progressive thinkers, scientists and people from various organisations of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala took part in the meeting.