With the police investigation into Sunday’s murder of veteran Kannada scholar M.M. Kalburgi in Dharwad obtaining no concrete leads, the Karnataka government has decided to write to the Centre to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Till such time the Central agency took over the case, the Criminal Investigation Department of the State police will hold an investigation.
Professor Kalburgi was shot dead by an assailant at his residence in Dharwad around 8.40 a.m. on Sunday. He was cremated with State honours in the presence of thousands of his students and fellow-scholars in Dharwad on Monday. Several educational institutions declared a holiday, and most business establishments downed their shutters. Members of some organisations formed a human chain in protest against the killing.
“Since giving the Kalburgi murder case to the CBI will take time, we have decided to conduct a CID investigation before it is handed over,” State Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra told presspersons after a Cabinet meeting in Bengaluru on Monday.
Police sources said no specific leads had been obtained from the scene of the crime. Nor was there any CCTV footage to identify the assailants.
Making the task tougher was the fact that the murder had no eyewitnesses. “We are pursuing all angles with an open mind,” a police official said. The possibility of the involvement of right-wing fringe groups or other possible motives was being investigated, a source said.
