The State government on Tuesday enhanced the compensation to the family of Kabir (24), who was shot dead allegedly by Anti-Naxal Force personnel near Sringeri on April 19, from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh.
According to an official press release, Dakshina Kannada district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai held a discussion with Home Minister K.J. George on the issue. Mr. Rai urged the Home Minister to visit the bereaved family here the release said.
ProtestMembers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) staged a protest here demanding a compensation of Rs. 30 lakh to the family and an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into Kabir’s death. K.R. Sriyan, CPI(M) State secretariat member, alleged that the incident demonstrated the failure of the government to maintain law and order in the State.
District president of the Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike Suresh Bhat Bakrabail said a meeting would be held outside the Sringeri taluk office to demand “fair investigation” into the incident so as to identify all the culprits.
At a press conference here, executive president of the State unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad M.B. Puranik alleged that the VHP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh were being dragged into the issue only to cover up the “failure” of the State government in addressing matters related to the incident. “We are in no way linked to the incident. Some political leaders here [in Mangalore] are trying to appease a section of society by shifting the blame on us,” he said.
