MANGALURU: The family of an elephant caretaker, who was brutally murdered along with his sister in 2012, lodged a complaint with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday, demanding investigation into the double murder.
Ganesh and Bharathi, son and daughter of Narayana Safalya, the elephant caretaker, visited the SIT office in Belthangady and filed a formal complaint, and demanded the arrest of the accused involved in the murder. Narayana was 67, and Yamuna was 52 when they were killed in 2012.
“My father Narayana, who had retired as mahout, lived in Burje of Dharmasthala village with his sister Yamuna. Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade’s brother Harshendra Kumar had been threatening my father to vacate his house for five years before the murder.
My father was assaulted twice in front of his house. On the eve of September 20, 2012, Harshendra Kumar came to my father’s house and asked him to vacate the house, and threatened him with dire consequences if he did not leave.
We have information that on September 21, 2012, my father and his sister Yamuna watched a drama at KSRTC bus stand on the occasion of Ganeshotsav, and returned home around 10pm. The next day, when they did not open the door till 12noon, locals went to the house and found them lying with fatal head injuries. Father had been hit on the head with a large stone, and Yamuna’s head with a grinding stone.
“My father did not have any wealth, money or gold, and whatever little money and jewellery they had at home was not stolen by the murderers. My father did not have any other enemies. He was murdered with the intention to take possession of his house and property which he got from his ancestors.
We personally met Veerendra Heggade three days later, but he asked us to let go of the matter. Harshendra Kumar had locked my father’s house and threatened us not to enter the house or take any things. We had approached the SP in November 2013, but did not get any response,” Ganesh alleged in the complaint.
The siblings have demanded that SIT probe the case and arrest the accused. They also submitted copies of earlier complaints filed with the local police. They told media persons later that they were living at their grandmother’s house when the incident occurred, and are sure that it was not a case of robbery. Ganesh is a resident of Kallagudde in Melanthabetta village of Belthangady taluk.
SIT officials received the petition and assured them that their complaint would be reviewed and forwarded to the jurisdictional police station for further action.