DHARWAD
Five persons arrested in connection with the murder of scholar MM Kalburgi were produced in the court of the fourth additional judge.
Amit Baddi, Ganesh Miskin (both from Hubballi), Praveen Prakash Chatur alias Krishnamurthy, Amol Kale and Vasudev Suryavanshi of Maharastra are the five accused.
While Amit, Ganesh and Vasudev were brought from Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, Amol was brought from Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru and Praveen from Dharwad Central Prison. Another accused Sharat Kalaskar alias Patil, who is in Yerawada jail in Pune, was absent.
The fourth additional judge Panchakshari Maheshwari adjourned the hearing to April 5.
Kalburgi was shot dead at his residence in Kalyan Nagar of Dharwad on August 30, 2015, and the case had been initially handed to CID. After the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed and Kalburgi’s murder case was also handed over to the SIT.
The investigation by the SIT led to more arrests and Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin were taken into custody.
According to sources in the SIT, Amol Kale was the key person in planning the murder of Kalburgi and he had asked Ganesh Miskin, another accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case, to eliminate Kalburgi. Praveen Prakash Chatur was the motorcycle rider and he had allegedly taken Ganesh Miskin to Kalburgi’s residence on August 30, 2015, around 8. 15 am.
While Praveen waited outside Kalburgi’s residence on his motorcycle with the engine on, Ganesh allegedly rang the doorbell and when Kalburgi’s wife Umadevi came out to see who had come, Ganesh asked for “Kalburgi Sir”. Thinking that the visitor must be a student, Umadevi informed her husband and went into the kitchen. When MM Kalburgi came out to see who it was, the visitor shot him in the forehead. The bullets pierced Kalburgi’s forehead and passed through the head killing him instantly.
