Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Mar 22: 51-year-old Vinayak Baliga, electrical contractor by profession who was killed by unidentified assailants early morning on Monday March 21, was an active RTI (Right to Information) activist for the last 10 years. He had successfully sought out more than 90 RTIs, particularly helping the government in tracing electricity theft in the city. He had also helped many poor families who were deprived of rights. Police sources also said that he had filed a complaint in the high court alleging misappropriation of funds in the Venkataramana Temple.
Baliga was residing at Besant second lane, living along with his 86-year-old father P Ramachandra Baliga, 80-year-old mother Jayanthi R Baliga, three sisters among whom one is married, and his brother-in-law. Baliga was unmarried. His another sister is married and living in Mumbai.
The news of the murder sent shockwaves across the city, as in the past, the city had witnessed murders of rowdies and criminals, but this was a rare incident where an innocent who was involved in helping the poor had been hacked to death. There was no indication of his enmity with anyone, but involvement of people affected by his RTI activism is not ruled out.
Baliga's routine was to leave the house at 5.30 am every day for Taj Mahal hotel on his two-wheeler. He would then visit the temple and also go for a walk. On Monday morning, as he started from his house, two unidentified men attacked him with sharp weapons, and reportedly hacked him more than 17 times. One of his neighbours Dr Subraya Pai heard his shouts and came to him immediately, but by then the attackers had escaped.
A CCTV camera placed in a nearby office captured the scene of two men entering the lane in a two-wheeler, but the images were unclear as it was dark. There is no footage of the men leaving the spot. Mangaluru police chief Chandra Sekar, Barke police officials, fingerprint experts and others visited the spot to collect evidence.
It may be recalled that police had successfully arrested supari killers on a couple of occasions when city's businessmen were under threat. It is also said that supari killers from north India are easily available for such acts. The alert police, especially the CCB team had provided security to the people concerned in many cases. But an RTI activist's murder is not even being protested by anyone. When there are murders of RTI activists, and right and left wing activists in other parts of the country, there is lot of noise and debates heard, but this incident has hardly evoked any reaction from either the political parties or the politically-related outfits.
After this, can any RTI activist or anyone who fights for people's rights work fearlessly in Mangaluru?