Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Apr 5: Days after the murder of RTI activist Vinayak Baliga at Kala Kunj Road in Kodialbail here, his father has expressed suspicions that missing Yuva Brigade leader Naresh Shenoy, who is said to be the prime suspect in the case, may be absconding abroad.
Vinayak's father Ramachandra was speaking to CPM state leader G V Sriram Reddy when the latter visied his house on Monday April 4.
Ramachandra expressed the suspicion that Naresh Shenoy would have fled to Dubai. Vinayak's sister said that Vinayak neither got any threat calls, nor did any of his friends visited the family home. "He was a pillar of strength for the family. After his murder, policemen took away files, CDs, and mobile phone. We need the telephone numbers of our friends and relatives that are recorded in the mobile phone. The police, who had promised to give back the mobile phone within three days, are yet to meet this promise," she stated.
CPM state secretary Sriram Reddy urged the state government to disburse compensation to the family of murdered RTI activist, Vinayak Baliga, and to find out the whereabouts of Yuva Brigade leader Naresh Shenoy, who has been accused of having played a major role in this murder, and arrest him immediately.
Speaking to reporters, Reddy said, "A glance at the way Vinayak was murdered gives us an indication that people with political clout were involved. The concerned should hasten the investigation and arrest the culprits. RTI is a weapon available to bring out corruption, and if RTI activists are neglected, people will hesitate to bring corrupt practices into the open. It is strange that notice was served on Yuva Brigade leader, Naresh Shenoy, to appear for interrogation. Sangh Parivar-supported forces are indulging in such crimes often. This reminds one of the murder of Harish Poojary at Bantwal sometime back. Although such things have been occurring frequently in the district, the government has failed to arrest RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat."
Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) state president, Muneer Katipalla, state president of Union of Dalit Organizations, B R Bhaskar Prasad, social activist, S C Gireesh Kumar, writer, Dayanand T K, DYFI district secretary, Santosh Bajal, DYFI district vice president, B K Imtiaz, Students Federation of India district president, Nitin Kuttar, and district secretary,Charan Shetty, were among those who were present.
RTI activists to unite under forum
A meeting of Right to Information (RTI) activists who met in the city on Monday April 4 in the backdrop of the murder of RTI activist, Vinayak Baliga, took a decision to set up an association of RTI activists in the city soon.
The activists, who took part in the meeting, strongly condemned Baliga's murder. They felt that the murder of Baliga has come as a warning bell for all the RTI activists in the region, and felt that in future, whenever RTI activists face problems, they need a system of support to back their struggle. They felt that by setting up an organization, which has been tentatively named as 'VB RTI' in memory of Vinayak Baliga, they can achieve the goal of creating a system under which RTI activists can come together and fight for their legitimate rights.
The meeting decided to hold protest procession during the next week demanding suitable compensation from the government to the family of slain Vinayak Baliga, and arrest of all the culprits involved. Putting together a WhatsApp group of the new organization, opening of a Facebook account, exchanging of records and documents between RTI activists and holding discussions thereof, creating of a separate blog etc were discussed and a few decisions were taken.
RTI activists, Dinesh Hegde Ulepady, Rajendra Kumar, Prakash Bhat, Rohan Monteiro, Richard Fernandes, and some others were present.