The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a final reminder to the Karnataka Director General of Police (DG&IGP) over the murder of an RTI activist in Chikmaglur district.
The apex human rights body issued the direction on a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer and rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy.
The RTI activist, Vandaru Vasudeva Adiga of Udupi district was missing from January 7 and his family had registered a missing person’s complaint with the police. While the police were clueless, passersby saw a body which was floating in a tank and informed the police. That’s how the body of Vandaru Vasudeva Adiga was found.
The body of Adiga was found with hands and legs tied and a heavy stone attached to his legs to prevent the body from surfacing.
Adiga’s RTI queries helped unearth the big Jambittige scam and forced people involved to cough up hefty amounts as fine. He had also unearthed many scams using RTI, rubbing those involved in it the wrong way.
The Udupi police, from whose limits Adiga was allegedly kidnapped, had not been able to achieve any breakthrough in the case from the day of the incident. This sort of murder poses serious threats to activists across the country, Radhakanta pointed out.
He sought an impartial investigation of the case and safety of activists in the country and compensation to the family of the deceased activist.
Earlier, the NHRC sought an ATR and directed the DG&IGP to file a report within four weeks. However, the DG&IGP is yet to file his reply to the NHRC.