Mangaluru: The murder of Dr Malleshappa M Kalburgi, a prominent Kannada scholar and former Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi, has created controversy on twitter.
After Bajrang Dal co-convener Bhuvith Shetty allegedly took to twitter to say that Indian critic and rationalist K S Bhagawan will be their next target for making fun of Hinduism, which has gone viral.
“Then it was U R Anantamoorty and now it is M M Kalburgi. Mock Hinduism and die a dog’s death. And dear K. S Bhagwan you are next,” Shetty tweeted at 10:41 am on 30 August. Shetty’s Twitter handle was, however, deleted shortly after.
Bantwal Town police have decided to file a suo motu case against Bhuvith Shetty for his controversial statment on Twitter.
After several people agitated on his post, Shetty first removed it and later deleted his Twitter account. However, the snapshot of his post was circulated in social media.
S.P. Sharanappa speaking to a daily said that Bhuvith belongs to Hindu outfit and already has two cases against him. However a suo motu case will be filed by Bantwal Town Police against Shetty.
The police also said that Kalburgi was shot at by an unlicensed weapon.
Kalburgi was a renowned scholar and recipient of the National Sahitya Akademi award. However, he was condemned by Hindu extremists for his remarks against idol worshipping and questioning superstition. He was also targeted for saying he would leave the country if Narendra Modi became prime minister, but denied it later.
Kalburgi’s anti-religious statement triggered immense criticism from Hindus who demanded his arrest. A case was also filed against Kalburgi and Ananthamurthy for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the community, earlier. Massive protests were held at the time by supporters of Bajrang Dal, Sri Rama Sene, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Hindutva activists in Karnataka.
“Threats were given by Bajrang Dal. Armed policemen who kept a vigil outside his house were withdrawn around three months ago at the request of the professor,” Kalburgi’s relative Nagaraj S Thigadi was reported as saying.
Kalburgi was shot in the head by one of the two unidentified men on Sunday morning at his residence in Dharwad’s Kalyan Nagar locality. He was later taken to a district hospital where he was pronounced dead.
