RTI Activists strongly condemn the death of Sri. Venkatesh, an RTI Activist
who was found dead in a mysterious condition on the night of 6 April 2009. An
article appeared on 8th April 2009 edition of Bangalore Mirror is reproduced
below.
Accident or murder?
RTI activist found bleeding near Jnana Bharati dies of his wounds
Debi Prasad Sarangi
Posted On Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at 12:44:16 AM
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. Passers-by, 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)
B.H. VEERESHA
MAHITHI HAKKU ADHYAYANA KENDRA
54, 17TH CROSS, M C LAYOUT
VIJAYANAGAR, BANGALORE 560 040
TEL.NO. 9448704693
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