Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 16 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday termed the death of three suspected poachers in a forest firing incident in Chamarajanagar district as an apparent "cold-blooded murder" and demanded an SIT inquiry conducted under the supervision of a High Court judge.
Speaking to reporters about the Chamarajanagar forest encounter, Bommai said people living on the fringes of forests often depend on forest resources for their livelihood and alleged that merely entering a forest does not justify shooting them, particularly at close range.
"Unfortunately, the people who are living on the edge of the forest, a lot of their livelihood depends on the forest also. Just because they have entered the forest, it is not necessary to shoot them and to shoot them at lower, at very close range. It is, at the outset, it looks like a very cold-blooded murder. The FIR should be registered as a murder. And then an inquiry has to be done by an SIT under the supervision of a High Court judge," Bommai said.
The incident took place in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary area of Chamarajanagar district and resulted in the deaths of three men, who were allegedly suspected of poaching.
Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar also said a magistrate-led investigation had been ordered into the Hanur shootout, asserting that the complete facts would emerge only after the probe.
On the controversy surrounding Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's regarding 'Vande Mataram', Bommai alleged that the issue reflected an opposition to patriotism and nationalism.
"It shows their mindset. They are against the idea of Bharat, patriotism, nationalism. Any action for the unity, integrity of Bharat, and nationalism, they want to oppose it. That is what our Prime Minister has said, 'Dimagi Naxalism'. These people are not in tune with the idea of Bharat or India," Bommai said.
This comes after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have lodged a formal complaint against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi at the Urwa Police Station in Karnataka on Sunday, following a controversy during the recitation of the national song Vande Mataram at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on Independence Day.
The controversy erupted after visuals from the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters showed senior party leaders speaking among themselves while Vande Mataram was being recited. BJP leaders have criticised their conduct, alleging that it amounted to disrespect towards the National Song. (ANI)
"Looks like a very cold-blooded murder": BJP's Bommai demands SIT probe into Chamarajanagar encounter
