Karnataka Scholar's Security Was Withdrawn Days Before his Killing

Dharwad:  Hundreds of people poured into a college in Karnataka today to pay tribute to renowned scholar MM Kalburgi, who was shot dead on the doorstep of his home on Sunday morning.

Here are 10 developments in the story:

1. MM Kalburgi, the former vice chancellor of Hampi University, answered the doorbell at his home in Dharwad at around 8.40 am when he was shot in the forehead and chest.


2. The attackers had come on a bike, said Dharwad police chief Ravindra Prasad. They are yet to be caught or identified. A six-member Special Investigation Team of the police will investigate the murder.


3. Neighbours say the 77-year-old, a well-known let ideologue and rationalist, had received many threats to his life, but he had never taken them seriously.


4. Dr Kalburgi was given a gunman as an escort last year but security was withdrawn on his request 15 days ago.


5. The professor was provided security after he provoked the anger of fringe groups by speaking in support of writer UR Ananthamurthy, who had shared that as a child, he had urinated on idols. He had also commented that the Lingayat community that he belonged to, were not Hindus.


6. A Sahitya Academy winner, Dr Kalburgi had several run-ins with Hindu rightwing groups who opposed his writings and speeches and called them “anti-Hindu.”


7. The police have filed a case against an activist of Hindu rightwing group Bajrang Dal, Bhuvith Shetty, for a threatening tweet after the killing.


8. The professor was provided security after he provoked the anger of fringe groups by speaking in support of writer UR


9. Former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, also a lingayat community leader, said: “Whatever be his views, he was a great historian and cannot be replaced. The culprits must be hanged.”


10. In the last couple of years, there have been at least three such attacks. In August 2013, anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead in Pune while he was out for a morning walk. In February this year, social activist and veteran CPI leader Govind Pansare — who was holding agitations against toll tax among other issues — was shot dead in similar circumstances in Kolhapur.

Story First Published: August 31, 2015 12:39 IST