Killing of Parameshwar surprises villagers

Kalasa July 12: Both surprise and sorrow gripped the town on Wednesday as soon as it became aware of the fact that A S Parameshwar (30) from Athyadka village was one among the five, who were killed in an police encounter at Menasinahadya on Tuesday.

Parameshwar was a very familiar face for all those in the town who were interested in progressive issues. The man who usually found with a small bag on his shoulder every now and then, had just been to the town last week to meet his friends and had returned to his native place.

A member of a Girijana family in Menasinahadya, Parameshwara had actively involved in the struggle connected to Kudremukh National Park. A 2-3 acre agricultural land was the only source of livelihood for the 3 brothers, including him.

Parameshwar was a person with a straight forward opinion regarding social issues. A familiar face in Kalasa, Sringeri and Chikmagalur areas, he had found media as the powerful tool to fight against injustice.

He was the brain behind the successful Girijana convention held at Kalasa last year. Though he could not complete even his high school education, Parameshwar was knowledgeable enough to talk confidently about GATT, WTO and the like!

Being the general secretary of Rashtriya Udyana Virodhi Okkuta, Paramwshwar appeared publicly for his struggles, and why the government did not arrest him if he was a naxal, as they claim? That is the pertinent question posed by the people here.

Menasinahadya residents speak well of ‘encounter’ victims

Ganesh Prabhu

Police detain more than 100 persons in Malnad region

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Rame Gowda’s son is reportedly missing

Resistance to shifting of bodies for post-mortem

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Bullet-ridden: The house of Rame Gowda where the ‘encounter’ took place.

Megur (Chikmagalur district): The house of Rame Gowda has bullet holes in almost every room. The rice that he and his wife, Kaveri, had stored is strewn all over in one of the rooms. In another room, clothes are scattered on the floor. The tiled roof has bullet holes indicating random firing. Rainwater was seen in the house. In short, the house appears to have been the scene of an ambush.

Residents of Megur and Menasinahadya villages, located in the forests of the Western Ghats, 7 km from the main road, speak well of Rame Gowda, Kaveri, and the two other victims of the July 10 encounter, Parmeshwara and Sunderesh.

Several residents told The Hindu that Rame Gowda and Kaveri were a generous couple. They had two sons, Prashanth (14) and Adarsh (10), who study in Nemar, a village in Sringeri taluk. Prashanth has been reportedly missing since the day of the encounter. Rame Gowda had a small piece of land, which, according to villagers, yielded him two quintals of rice and 50 kg of arecanut a year. During a part of the year, he worked as an agricultural labourer.

The residents say that if the police were suspicious of Rame Gowda’s activities, they could have resorted to legal means. There was no need to kill him and his wife. Prashanth, Director of Lamps Society, Koppa, said: “They should not have been shot just because they gave food to naxalites.” On the day of the encounter, Parmeshwara and Sunderesh were in the couple’s house. Sunderesh was to spray insecticide on Rame Gowda’s areca palms, and Parmeshwara was just visiting.

According to Sunderesh’s brothers, T.A. Jayakumar and T.A. Gunde, “Neither Sunderesh nor we are connected in any manner to naxalites.”

With tears in his eyes, Parmeshwara’s father, Sheshe Gowda, said that Parmeshwara never talked about naxalites. Since he was the general secretary of the Kudremukh Rashtriya Udyana Virodhi Samiti, a local Hindutva outfit branded him a naxalite sympathiser, he said. Recalling Tuesday’s encounter, he said that it was “like bursting of crackers. He went to Rame Gowda’s house as Rame Gowda is our relative.”

Pitched battle

There was a pitched battle between the police and people of Megur and Menasinahadya villages on Tuesday night. The villagers had blocked the roads with logs and dug trenches. They even set a government vehicle on fire. The villagers did not want the dead bodies of the five persons killed in the “encounter” to be removed until the Chief Minister arrived on the spot. But the police resorted to lathi-charge around 1.45 a.m. on Wednesday and dispersed the crowd.

Detained

Correspondent reports from Chikmagalur:

Police detained more than 100 persons in the Malnad region of the district on Wednesday as a precautionary measure to prevent them from organising demonstrations to protest against the killing of five persons in the “encounter.”

The arrested persons included leaders of various progressive organisations that have been listed by the Government as being sympathisers of the Maoists, including Kalkuli Vittal Hegde, president of the Kudremukh Rashtriya Udhyana Virodhi Okkoota.

The bodies of the slain persons were brought to the government hospital in Chikmagalur for post-mortem under tight security.

Vipul Kumar, Superintendent of Police, denied that the encounter had been staged. Speaking to presspersons, he reiterated that the ‘naxalites’ had fired first and the police retaliated. He said Paramesh, who was among those killed, was an office-bearer of the Kudremukh Rashtriya Udhyana Virodhi Okkoota and was considered to be a Maoist.

http://www.hindu.com

Civilians killed in fake encounter, says Congess

Bangalore, July 12 (UNI) The Opposition Congress in the Legislative Council today charged the Karnataka police with killing innocent people in fake encounters by branding them as naxals.

Speaking on a preliminary submission after submitting adjournment motion seeking detailed discussion on the failure of the state government in protecting innocent tribals living in Western Ghats which was affected by naxal menace, Opposition Leader H K Patil charged that five people were killed in an fake encounter by the police at Menasinahadya Village yesterday.

Mr Patil alleged the state government which failed to implement various welfare measures in the naxal-affected areas in Shimoga, Chickmagalur, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, was now targeting innocent people in the guise of eradicating the naxals.

All the villagers of Menasinahadya had expressed anguish over the killing of four innocents and did not even allow the police to remove the bodies from the scene.

Mr V R Sudarshan (Cong) termed the incident as most unfortunate and condemned police action which resulted in the killing of four innocent people.V S Ugrappa, Ms Motamma, D S Putte Gowda, Prathap Chandra Shetty (all Cong) also condemned the killings.

The Congress members also charged the state government with treating the naxalism as a law and order rather than a socio-economic problem.

The government also failed to implement the recommendations of the Chiranjeevi Singh Committee to announce a special development package for the Malnad Region in four districts, they charged.

Minister for Higher Education and Leader of the House D H Shankaramurthy, opposing the adjournment motion said the naxal activities in Chickmagalur and other districts should be seen as law and order problem.

The naxals had killed three persons, damaged public properties and also indulged in looting the people living in the area.

Mr Sachidananda Khot, Deputy Chairman of the House, who was in the chair, ruled the motion was converted into Rule 68 and disallowed the adjournment motion.

Yesterday, five people were gunned down in an encounter with the police in Menasinahadya Village. Locals alleged one was a CPI (Maoist) member and the other civilians killed in the crossfire between the naxals and the police.

UNI