Rationalist Kalburgi’s murder probe delay angers family

They are now urging the state government to hand over the probe to a more competent authority claiming the CID has not achieved any breakthrough even three months after the death of the rationalist.

Responding to the charges made by state BJP president Pralhad Joshi in Parliament that fund crunch and other infrastructure problems has hampered the investigation undertaken by the CID, the family members said that it is the prerogative of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to go for a CBI probe or an investigation by any other state agency.

Stating that there is involvement of some fringe elements in the murder of the educationist, they said that the government should check whether the ongoing probe is effective or not.

"It is not proper on our part to pressurise the government to assign the case to CBI or any other agency as we don’t know how the probe works. But, we can say that there is an inordinate delay in nabbing the culprit and this has caused frustration and anger in our family.

The government should accord top priority to speeding up the probe as my father was a renowned educationalist and former vice-chancellor. What would be the plight of the common man if the probe agency failed to solve the murder case of such a prominent figure?" asked Srivijaya, son of the slain scholar.

Meanwhile, Dr Kalburgi’s murder continues to haunt his wife Umadevi as she was the only eye witness to the incident. She expressed displeasure over the delay in arrest of the assailants.

A gloomy atmosphere still prevails at the residence of the scholar with hordes of writers paying visits to console the family members.