Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Jun 19: At the special session of Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat (ZP) held here on Tuesday June 18, immediate-past ZP president K P Sucharita Shetty made a statement, alleging that the death of Shekhar Rathod (31), who was one of the gunmen provided to former deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, was killed at Moodbidri last month, but the same is being projected as an accident.
Rathod, who had come to visit the daughter of his elder sister studying at a Moodbidri college on May 27, was hit by a vehicle on the national highway 13 near Handelu. Shekhar, a resident of Badami Hanapur in Bagalkot district, had been to Mangalore on some work and before returning, had decided to visit his niece, who had got admission in Moodbidri college on sports quota.
In a hit-and-run case, a tempo that was speeding from the direction of Karkala had sped away after hitting him at around 2.30 pm. He was immediately admitted to Alva's Health Centre in Moodbidri, before shifting to a private hospital in the city for advanced treatment. He breathed his last. He was pronounced dead at 7.10 am on Thursday May 28. The vehicle in question has not been traced.
Sucharita Shetty however, begged to differ. He narrated that Shekhar was at a hotel in Moodbidri with a girl, before is death. "He was abducted by a gang which assaulted him. Later, he died at the hospital. There are eyewitnesses for the incident. People and the policemen know about the culprits. A soldier has lost his life unnecessarily. High level inquiry should be held into the matter. Being the local zilla panchayat member, I have a responsibility to answer my people. The family of the deceased needs to be provided with justice," Shetty argued.
When the ZP chief executive officer P Shivahsnkar said that no resolution can be passed on the issue, he reminded him that a resolution has been passed relating to the death of a man named Babu Mugera from Belal village in the past, under suspicious circumstances. President Venkat Dambekody then suggested that a resolution can be passed and the superintendent of police can be asked to hold investigation.
As the members got engrossed with some other issues, it was not clear as to whether the zilla panchayat passed a resolution on the subject. No one spoke about it thereafter.