Kalburgi killers got firing practice near Dharmasthala

The assailants of rationalist researcher M M Kalburgi practised firing at an isolated area in the thick jungles between Mangaluru and Dharmasthala for more than 15 days, it has now emerged.

According to officials of the Special Investigation Team probing the murder, the suspects were taken to the said spot where some “vital evidence” was collected.

Furthermore, Praveen Chatur, a suspect in the case arrested in Hubballi on May 31, has revealed that after Ganesh Miskin opened fire on Dr Kalburgi, both of them rode to Kittur on a bike and later fled to Mumbai.

The bike they rode and used in the murder was stolen in Hubballi with the help of one Vasudev Suryavanshi, a mechanic.

Vasudev is an associate of Amol Kale, the mastermind in the case. The bike owner had lodged a complaint with the Hubballi police over theft.

The two-wheeler was kept at Miskin’s house and the assailants used it to reach Kalyan Nagar via Dharwad Railway station where Prof Kalburgi’s house is located.

The SIT officials will be camping in Dharwad for the next two days for taking the suspects to other places related to the crime and record their statements before filing the charge sheet.

77-year old Kalburgi, the former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi University and a well-known scholar and epigraphist, was shot dead in broad daylight at his residence in Kalyan Nagar in Dharwad, Karnataka, on August 30, 2015. Born in 1938, he was a Sahitya Akademi award-winning writer of old Kannada literature.