Vinayak Baliga murder: Naresh Shenoy was accused of theft in temple, say police

The City police has stated that the slain RTI activist Vinayak Baliga had accused the main accused in the murder case Naresh Shenoy and his family of involvement in a theft in Vithoba Temple.

The police has made the statement in the supplementary charge sheet submitted to the Third Judicial Magistrate First Class Court.

Baliga had written to the trustees of Sudha Seva Pratishthana in this regard. He had also accused Naresh Shenoy of helping an accused in a murder case get an acquittal from the court.

The investigation officer Uday Nayak had submitted the supplementary charge sheet to the court on December 17.

“Enraged over the two accusations, Shenoy decided to eliminate Baliga by hiring contract killers. Baliga was hacked to death near his house at Kodialbail on March 21, 2016,” said the police in their charge sheet.

In the letter written by Baliga to Sudha Seva Pratishthana convener Anil Kudwa and member Ganapati Pai, Vinayak Baliga had accused Naresh Shenoy and his family of creating fake documents in the name of trustees of Vithoba Rakumai Temple to collect temple ornaments from the bank.

He had also accused Shenoy of helping Nandakumar, an accused in a murder at the Venkataramana Temple in 2013, to get clean chit, by prevailing upon Manjunath Shenoy (also an accused in the Vinayak Baliga murder case) to turn hostile.

The charge sheet said that Baliga had collected information under Right to Information Act on financial misappropriation at the Venkataramana Temple. Baliga had also filed two original suits against trustees of Venkataramana Temple and against Naresh Shenoy for influencing the activities of the temple, said the charge sheet.

Naresh Shenoy hatched a conspiracy with his employee Srikanth (accused number 2) and Shailesh (accused number 6) to murder Baliga. It was said that Shenoy had given his vehicle and money to Vineet Poojary, Shivaprasad, and Nishit Devadiga, who murdered Vinayak Baliga.

Naresh Shenoy, who was absconding since the day of murder till his arrest on June 26, was reportedly helped by Manjunath Shenoy alias Manju Neereshwalya.