Even as organisations and secular political parties are mounting pressure on the government to hand over to the CBI the probe into the recent Tanikodu firing in which cattle trader Kabeer was killed by the ANF personnel, the authorities silently expedited their inquiry into the incident. Apart from handing over the case to the CID, the government has appointed Chikmagalur Deputy Commissioner B S Shekarappa as the Executive District Magistrate to probe the firing and told him to submit the findings within 45 days. KSRP ADGP Raveendranath, Internal Security ADGP Amarkumar Pandey, DIG (Criminal Investigation Department) Sumendra Chatterjee and Anti- Naxal Force commandant Santhosh Kumar visited Tanikodu check-post on Friday. The ANF officer who is accused of killing Kabeer was subjected to interrogation in CID custody. He is still in police custody. Meanwhile, Pandey said the firing was accidental and a detailed inquiry is going on. Cattle traders Rafeeq, Omar and Farooq, apart from Kabeer who fell to the bullet of ANF, are alleged to have been previously involved in illegal cattle trading and several cases of cattle trafficking are booked against them in the coastal region, he said.
COMPENSATION FOR KABEER UNLAWFUL, SAYS PRAHLAD JOSHI
HUBLI: Terming as ‘unlawful’ the `10 lakh compensation announced for the kin of cattle trader Kabeer, who was killed by the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) in an encounter near Sringeri, state BJP president Prahlad Joshi demanded that the State government withhold the fi nancial relief till investigations are over. He told reporters on Friday that the BJP was not averse to any kind of inquiry into the incident. “Announcement of a huge compensation and fi ling of a murder case against the ANF personnel without a proper investigation are illegal,” he said adding, “it is an act of appeasement by the government.” Urging the government to withdraw the murder case against ANF offi cer Naveen Naik, he said the role of Surtkal MLA Moideen Bava in hushing up the case should also be investigated. The MLA is said to have forced the truck driver, in which cattle was being transported, into making a false statement, and the latter conceded that the police fi red at Kabeer while he tried to fl ee, Joshi said.