Sanatan Sanstha's book took SIT to logical end

The charge sheet filed before Judicial Magistrate First Class Court by Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the murder of writer Prof MM Kalburgi reveals how a Sanatan Sanstha’s book provided credible leads to solve the case.

The charge sheet was filed against Amol Kale (Pune), Ganesh Miskin, Amith Baddi (Hubballi), Praveen Chatur (Belagavi), Vasudev Suryavamshi and Sharad Kalaskar (Maharastra), members of an unnamed religious organisation, on Saturday for killing Kalburgi on August 30, 2015, at his Kalyan Nagar residence in Dharwad.

The charge sheet says ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhana’, a book brought out by the Sanstha, provided crucial leads in taking the case to the logical end.

They targeted persons opposed to the organisation’s beliefs and ideology. Violent and aggressive men with criminal background were recruited for the organisation who followed principles propagated in the book.

On June 9, 2014, Kalburgi had referred to U R Ananthamurthy’s book at a debate in Bengaluru. Based on his observations, the accused concluded that he was a bad element defined in the book and decided to murder him.

They secretly met in Karnataka and Maharashtra for training in arms, besides relocating to different places under different names.

Kale, Miskin and Chatur met frequently from January 2015 near Indira Gandhi glass house, Hubballi, to execute the plan. Kale had directed Miskin to watch Kalburgi’s movements, besides instructing Suryavamshi to burgle a bike, the charge sheet reads.

Kale had trained Miskin and Chatur on using a country-made pistol at rubber plantation at Pilathabettu, Dakshina Kannada district. Kale handed over a bag containing a 7.65 mm calibre country-made pistol to Miskin, the charge sheet reads.

On August 30, Kale, Miskin and Chatur met near the glass house. Chatur rode a bike with Miskin riding pillion to Dharwad after Kale handed over the bike. Miskin shot at Kalburgi’s forehead around 8.30 am and the due fled away, the charge sheet explains.

The case was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department on August 31. Kalburgi’s wife Umadevi and son Srivijaya moved the Supreme Court in January 2019 expressing displeasure over the way in which investigation was carried out.

In March 2019, the case was handed over to senior IPS officer B K Singh led SIT based on the Court’s direction.

According to the SIT, journalist Gauri Lankesh and Kalburgi were killed in a similar mode. Amol Kale is suspected to have played a role in murder cases of Prof Narendra Dabholkar in Pune and Govind Pansare in Kolhapur.