Two weeks after Dharwad based litterateur M M Kalburgi was murdered by unidentified men, the Director General of Police (CID) H C Kishore Chandra has confirmed that the scholar was not murdered over a property dispute or issues within the family.
The CID chief told Prajavani and Deccan Herald that the investigating team has ruled out property dispute in the family as the reason for murder, and the murder was over ideological and related issues.
The investigation on the case was handed over to CID by the State cabinet three days after the murder.
The investigation by the CID is in progress and the police haven’t arrested anybody so far in the case, though people have been questioned.
“We have taken the case seriously and there is no breakthrough yet. We are confident of cracking the case at the earliest,” said the DGP (CID) Kishore Chandra.
Immediately after Kalburgi's murder, there was speculation that he could have been killed over a property dispute and that there was discord in the family. The writer's family had repeatedly denied that there had been any issue within the family (Kalburgi and his brothers) and that he was not involved in a properly dispute that his daughter had with her late husband's family.
The CID will question members of groups from whom Kalburgi has faced threats even in the past. A Lingayat lobby had tried to kill him at a mutt in Dharwad about two decades ago. However, the case was withdrawn later.
Over two dozen people,including his friends as well as his rivals, have been questioned by CID. The investigation has not given the police any leads to the assailants.
On September 9, another rationalist and writer K S Bhagwan who was also close to M M Kalburgi received a threat letter. The letter sent by an anonymous person said, “No police will save you when we come.” The letter also said ‘3 successful’, which could be indicating the murders of Govind Pansare, Narendra Dhabolkar and MM Kalburgi, said a police source.