Murder of RTI activist Lingaraju solved
26 Nov, 2012Following the Karnataka High Court suo motu taking up the news of the murder of a RTI activist as a PIL, the police have taken quick action in the case and have arrested eight persons. RTI activist Lingaraju Devaiah was killed brutually in Chamarajpet for which C Govindaraju, husband of corporator Gowramma, was blamed.
The Police Commissioner BG Jyothi Prakash Mirji has alleged that it was a case of contract killing and Govindaraju offered Rs 15 lakh as supari to the killers. Govindaraju was upset with the RTI activist for complaining to the Lokayukta on Gowramma's alleged disproportionate wealth. To eliminate Lingaraju, Govindaraju approached Velu Dhanpal, who in turn contacted Shankar Sundar alias Gunda, 32, and Chandra Nataraj, 32. These anti-social elements were paid an advance of Rs 2.5 lakh, while Rs 5 lakh was given after the murder. The remaining amount of Rs. 7.5 Lakhs was to be paid after the situation calmed down. Chandra and Shankara allegedly got Bhavani, Krishna, Raghu and Ramaiah to eliminate Lingaraju. These four persons used an autorickshaw to get away from the spot after the murder.
The police have arrested Velu, Chandra, Shankar, Umashankar Ashwath alias Bhavani, 45, Rangaswamy Krishna, 23, Raghavendra Jayaram alias Raghu, 23, and Shankara Ramaiah.