Beltangady: Unidentified, Armed Woman Sheltered by Local Housewife - Suspicions Galore

Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (SP)

Beltangady, Oct 21: The news that an armed woman had stayed for a few days in the house of a woman from Melantabettu near here, has given rise to speculations about the identity of the lady, veracity of the incidents as per the version put forth by the house owner, purpose of her visit etc.,

Shantamma (55), residing a little away from Guruvayanakere Jain Basadi said that a woman named Ashalata from Male Mahadeshwara located on Karnataka border with Tamil Nadu, had come to her house, asking for shelter for a few days, some days back.

The stranger claimed that she wants accommodation for a few days, as she was having problems with her menstruation. Shantamma says that the lady claimed, her parents were no more and she did not have anybody to care for her. "She stayed with me for three to four days, but prevailed on me not to leave home. On Saturday October 18, she said, she was summoned by some one and that she would come back after delivering a thing she held in her hand. When I looked closely, I realised it was a pistol. I was dumbfounded at this sudden turn of events," Shantamma narrated.

Before leaving, Ashalata asked Shantamma not to panic. She said, she was going to the forests. "She had said that she was from Tamil Nadu and that her sister had been killed by the government by garlanding her and setting off a time bomb and that her relatives are in jail since long. At around 10 pm on Saturday, she went away in wet clothes into the forests," recollects Shantamma.

In the words of Shantamma, the woman warned her against informing the policemen about her visit. She was saying in a voice filled with anger that the heads of the politicians and policemen deserve to be chopped off, Shantamma claimed. Ashalata wore red churidar and did not leave behind any leaflets or hand bills, she explains, duly supported by her young son.

Shantamma's neighbourers however, do not totally support her version of the incidents. But they are aware that a lady had stayed with Shantamma for a few days. After Ashalata left her house, Shantamma conveyed information on her, to MLA Vasant Bangera, who then passed on the same to the policemen. The policemen were not clear as to what had transpired and they visited Shantamma's house after the presspersons reached there on the evening of Monday October 20.

The first riddle everyone comes across in this case, is about the identity of the woman and the organization to which she belongs. If she was a naxal, she would have left behind some hand bills, going by the past experiences. The explanation that she was wearing a red churidar too has given rise to doubts in the minds of the people and the policemen.

Several questions remain to be answered. Why did Shantamma, who provided shelter to a stranger, who could have been identified as a radical by her words, did not pass on the information to the police? Shantamma confirms that the policemen had been near her home on an occasion for some time, but the fact that she did not try to draw their attention to the stranger in her house, gives rise to doubts about Shantamma's version as well as her intentions. Was the pistol the woman possessed genuine? Shantamma claims the pistol had five bullets and says, it was just like the guns in the possession of the policemen.

Some suspect Ashalata to be the member of a gang of robbers, while a few more think she might have been an active LTTE cadre because of the fact that she spoke about garland and time bomb. Shantamma frequently tried to drive home the point that the government has not provided her with facilities like house, electricity etc., in exchange for votes, by saying it again and again. This has given rise to suspicions as to whether Shantamma has concoted this story to earn sympathy and get government facilities.

The policemen have so far, not succeeded in getting any clues about the incident. Circle inspector Gangi Reddy has requested people not to support or shelter strangers and to inform the policemen immediately upon coming across suspicious behaviour or persons.