Activists demand impartial probe into Vikram Gowda encounter

Noor Sridhar and Sirimane Nagaraj,  former Maoist leaders, on the Press Membership of Bangalore, in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
| Picture Credit score: Okay. MURALI KUMAR

A number of activists have demanded an impartial probe into the encounter of Maoist chief Vikram Gowda, who was allegedly killed in an change of fireplace between Anti-Naxal Pressure (ANF) personnel and Maoists at Peetabailu close to Hebri in Udupi district, on Monday night. The State authorities is but to order any probe into the incident.

Want for second FIR

Folks’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) – Karnataka stated, “It’s unusual and troubling that the FIR registered by the police is towards Vikram Gowda who misplaced his life within the encounter. Genuinely, the second FIR ought to have been registered mandating felony investigation into the reason for demise of Vikram Gowda.” The PUCL demanded the registration of an FIR for alleged culpable murder towards the cops concerned within the encounter and an investigation as per the Supreme Courtroom pointers to probe all encounters.

In the meantime, Sirimane Nagaraj and Noor Sridhar, former Maoist leaders who joined the mainstream in 2014, addressed presspersons in Bengaluru on Wednesday and demanded a judicial probe into the incident. “This encounter by the ANF is an act of crime dedicated by the State,” Mr. Sridhar stated. “Virtually 98% of the Anti-Naxal Pressure encounters are faux and therefore the federal government ought to appoint a retired choose to probe this encounter additionally,” stated Mr. Sridhar.

“The State was peaceable and the naxal motion additionally subdued over the past decade. The State ought to have tried to deliver them to the mainstream reasonably than kill them in encounters. Until the federal government reaches out to naxals peacefully, this encounter will take a unique flip sooner or later,” he stated.

‘Surrender weapons’

Mr. Nagaraj stated that the State, society, and the Maoist occasion have been all liable for the tragic flip of occasions. “The Maoists who’re nonetheless finishing up armed battle have to surrender weapons. The China mannequin, which was adopted within the bygone days by the Maoist events, is just not the fitting strategy to struggle towards the injustices. This fallacious mode of motion can be liable for the killing of Vikram Gowda. The Maoists have to come back out giving up weapons and struggle utilizing democratic means,” he stated.