BENGALURU: After the murder of Kannada scholar Dr M.M. Kalburgi in Dharwad on Sunday, another writer Yogesh Master has revealed that he had a similar experience as two youngsters were trying to approach him over the last 4-5 months. The Kumbalgod police have provided security at his house following the developments.
Mr Master, whose novel ‘Dhundi’ had created a furore among Hindu outfits for controversial remarks against Lord Ganesha in 2013, told Deccan Chronicle that he was shocked after hearing the news of Dr Kalburgi’s murder. “The modus operandi is very similar to what I experienced four times in the last 4-5 months. Two bike-borne men have approached me citing one reason or the other. On their first visit, they met me on the pretext of giving me an invitation card to an event. But I suspected their behaviour as the youngster talking to me was abnormal. Coincidentally, when the beat police came to my house he left in a hurry,” he said.
“Again after a month or so, they came for the second time on the pretext of giving me a book. The youngster was sweating profusely and I asked him the reason behind it, and he chose to brush it off. After these two incidents, I grew suspicious about them. When they came the third time, I wanted to check what they would do. As soon as my wife went out to drop our children to school, I saw them coming on a bike. I locked the door and went to watch them from the kitchen. They parked the bike in front of the house and were behaving suspiciously. They did not even come to knock on the door and just left after 2-3 minutes, as one of my neighbours questioned them why they were hanging around there. The fourth time, about 15 days ago, they were seen roaming around near my house and I asked my students to keep a watch on them. As one of my students tried talking to them, they fled on their bike,” the 46-year-old writer said.
He said that whenever the duo came, the pillion rider, who is aged around 25, approached him, while the rider, about 21-22 years old, did not even get down from the bike, keeping the engine on. The first two visits were in the night around 10.15 pm, while the next two were in the morning around 8.30, he said. He filed a complaint with the Kumbalgod police and two policemen have been stationed near his house.
