An unidentified body with two bullet injuries has been found at a village in Belagavi district in Karnataka. The police are verifying if the body resembles the sketch of one of the two killers of writer and rationalist MM Kalburgi, who was gunned down at Dharwad in August.
The body was recovered at Manikwadi in Belgavi district recently and the assailant who killed the man remains unknown, Additional Superintendent of Police R K Gadadee told PTI.
Asked if the body resembled one of the sketches of Kalburgi’s killers, he said investigation was “in progress” and nothing could be said at the moment.
The police had prepared the sketches of Kalburgi’s killers based on the accounts given by the deceased scholar’s wife, Umadevi, and another person who had a glimpse of the killers. The sketches were released in the first week of September.
The state CID is probing the killing, which has led to national outrage with several writers returning their Sahitya Akademi awards over “rising intolerance”, citing Kalburgi’s murder as one of the reasons for their action.
The Maharashtra police have also exchanged data and sketches of the suspected murderers of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar and veteran Communist leader Govind Pansare. Karnataka and Maharashtra police are trying to ascertain if there is any link between Kalburgi’s murder and the killings of Dabholkar and Pansare.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)