Bengaluru: Five days after the Ballari violence, where a Congress worker was killed by a stray bullet fired allegedly by private security of Congress MLA Bharat Reddy, the opposition party is seeking a CBI investigation over two controversies in handling the case.
While the police confirmed that two post mortems were conducted on deceased Congress worker Rajashekhar to remove the bullet from the body, Ballari in-charge minister Zameer Ahamed Khan handing over a bag of currencies as compensation to the family members of Rajashekhar has also erupted as another controversy.
Armed by the two controversies, the opposition parties -- BJP and JD(S) are seeking CBI inquiry into the Ballari violence, charging that the state government was trying to hush up the incident and frame the BJP leaders in the case.
Eversicne the violence broke out on January 1, night while the Congress workers tried tying banners in front of Gangavati BJP MLA Gali Janardhan Reddy, the State government's handling of the case has been in question. Though the Congress workers had gone to BJP leaders' house, resulting in the violence, the first three names in the FIRs had been BJP former ministers -- Gali Janardhan Reddy, B Sriramulu and G Somashekhar Reddy. The first FIR was based on the complaint filed by Congress MLA Bharat Reddy's close associate Sathish Reddy, who had gone to Janardhan Reddy's house.
Since Bharath Reddy's personal security personnel were found firing from their weapons, the police wanted to find the source of the bullet that killed Rajashekhar. The doctors at BIMS hospital, who conducted the post mortem did not remove the bullet and were ready to hand over the body to the family members. But, the senior police officers were adamant that the body could not be handed over to the relatives till the bullet was removed from the body. The doctors conducted the second post mortem and handed over the bullet to the police.
The police sent the bullet to FSL, which confirmed that the bullet was fired from the weapon belonging to Gurukreet Singh, one of the five personal security guards of Bharat Reddy. He has been arrested and remanded to judicial custody.
Meanwhile, Bharat Reddy and Minister Zameer Ahamed Khan announced that the family members of Rajashekhar would be given a compensation of ₹ 25 lakh. As promised, both went to the house of Rajashekhar and handed over a bag containing currency notes. Seizing the opportunity, JD(S) leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy questioned the source of the cash and asked if the cash was IT paid money.
Since the Congress is creating a counter narrative that the violence was started by BJP leaders, the BJP and JD(S) have urged for a CBI inquiry into the issue,as they have no faith in the state investigation agencies.
``Though the Congress leaders went to Janardhan Reddy's house and started the violence, an FIR was filed against the victims. Besides, they tried hiding the source of the bullet by not allowing the doctors to remove it. Thanks to the intervention of some police officers and a second post mortem. Still the government is trying to fix Janardhan Reddy and others and save its MLA. We can not trust any investigation from the State agencies and we demand a CBI inquiry into the issue,'' Kumaraswamy added.
