Daijiworld Media Network – Moodbidri (SP)

Moobidri, Jan 25: To register their protest about the Lokayukta action against the local forester, M C Aiyappa, the citizens of Shirtady observed an hour’s voluntary bandh in the town on Monday January 24. The protestors, who congregated in the town, insisted that the said raid was part of the retaliatory tactics employed by Aiyappa’s opponents. They demanded for an impartial inquiry into the all the aspects associated with the raid.

At the protest meet, which was apolitical, held at the S D Samrajya Circle in Shirtady, gram panchayat president, Frederick Pinto, alleged that an unidentified person had kept a bundle of currency notes on the forester’s table, with the specific aim of taking revenge.  He identified the brain behind the plot as a sub-inspector of police from Karkala rural police station, who had been raided by the Lokayukta in the past and suspended from service. He demanded the state Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde, himself to conduct the investigation, and discharge Aiyappa, who is on the verge of retirement, of malicious allegations levelled against him.

Several people including Nellikar Panapila Valpady village forest committee president, Jayant Hegde, Nellikar gram panchayat president, Harish Acharya, Shirtady taluk panchayat member, Rukkaiah Poojary, gram panchayat members, Nellikar Agricultural Service Cooperative Bank director, Padmanabh Kotian, Dr S N Amrita, Adiraj Jain and Majalody Prakash Shetty, addressed the gathering, pledging full support to Aiyappa.

It was decided to submit a letter to the state Lokayukta, requesting Justice Hegde himself to interfere in the matter and conduct an impartial investigation.