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RTI activist found bleeding near Jnana Bharati dies of his wounds
DEBI PRASAD SARANGI
In a shocking incident, an RTI activist who had succeeded in saving
government property worth crores of rupees from being encroached by land sharks
died under mysterious circumstances near Bangalore University’s Jnana Bharathi
campus on Monday night. The man has been identified as 48-year-old Venkatesh, a
resident of Hosahalli in Vijayanagar.
He was found lying near Papireddypalya Circle around 9 pm with injuries on
the head. Passersby, who saw him bleeding, shifted him to a private hospital
where he succumbed to his injuries. As Venkatesh and his two-wheeler were found
on the road in Kamakshipalya traffic limits, the traffic cops suspected him to
be a victim of a road accident. But the bike did not have any damage. His body
was sent to Victoria Hospital for autopsy and that is where the case took an
intriguing turn.
The doctors who conducted the post mortem refused to buy the police theory
of road accident and said the death had been caused because of an assault.
“There were two L-shaped injury marks on the back of his head and it suggested
that sharp-edged weapons had been used to attack him. These were deep-cut
injuries,” said sources in Victoria Hospital. Though the hospital is yet to
give its report, the preliminary observations and inferences have not only
shocked the family but have also left the police head honchos baffled. “It
looks like a killing for vengeance, we will investigate further,” a police
officer said. The officer who is reconstructing the sequence of events that
resulted in murder said: “Venkatesh was returning on his two-wheeler after
collecting rent from his tenant when he was intercepted by the gang. They
assaulted him and escaped. While he was lying on the road, two persons shifted
him to Hosmat.”
The police have now begun to dig deep into Venkatesh’s activities and the
threats he had received. According to close friends of Venkatesh, one of the
motives behind his murder could be crusade against land sharks. “He was using
RTI to ferret information pertaining to encroachments and was filing cases
against land sharks in the courts and Lok Ayukta’s office. This had angered a
lot of people,” one of his friends said. In fact, sometime ago he had made a
representation to the Jnana Bharathi police stating that there was a threat to
his life.
Six months ago, Venkatesh had been instrumental in saving BDA property worth
Rs 35 crore. He had obtained documents from BDA by applying the RTI Act to
prove the actual ownership. Subsequently, the property was recovered.
Similarly, he was trying to save a huge tract of land near Srigandhakaval from
being occupied by private parties.
(Inputs from Manjunath Sharma)
