Vikram Gowda’s encounter killing: Reformed Naxalites seek judicial probe, Karnataka govt defends action

Sridhar and Nagaraj returned to the mainstream in 2014 under an initiative of the previous Congress government under Siddaramaiah. Sridhar said the culture of encounters should not continue.

Blaming the “heartless policies” of the government and the violent path pursued by Naxals for the incident, he said the encounter disturbed the decade-long peace during which there was no violence between Naxals and the police forces.

“What was the reason to hunt Vikram Gowda? When he was not behind any attacks, issued any threats or distributed pamphlets, why was he killed?” Sridhar asked, deriding the behaviour of the government. Noting the conditions faced by other reformed Naxals such as Kanyakumari and Niluvali Padmanabh, Sridhar said while one was still in jail, the other was struggling to pay the lawyer’s fee for fighting the cases against him.

“If the government treats the reformed Maoists like this, who would be willing to be rehabilitated?” he asked.

“Though Gowda was depicted as a notorious Naxal leader, he was an ordinary youth from the tribal community who was forced into the Naxal movement due to the harassment meted to his family by the police and forest departments,” Sridhar said.

The police were hiding some facts about the incident, he alleged, questioning why media persons were not taken to the place of the encounter.

The FIR filed by the ANF at the Hebri police station, Udupi district, said that when ANF was conducting combing operations near a forest at Nadpalu village, they spotted “three to four” gunmen. After confirming that it was Vikram Gowda and his allies of the banned Maoist organisation, the police asked them to surrender.

“However, Vikram Gowda and others opened fire with an intention to kill. When the (ANF) staff returned fire, Vikram Gowda was hit and fell down. Others fled into the forest,” the FIR said.

Despite the activists’ concerns, the state government defended the ANF action. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the encounter was carried out to curb naxal activities in the state. Karnataka announced a bounty of Rs 3 lakh for Gowda and Kerala announced another of Rs 50,000.

“He was asked to surrender, but he did not,” the chief minister said.

Home Minister G Parameshwara said Gowda had more than 60 cases, including murder, cases against him. “He had an automatic machine gun. Efforts were made for his surrender in the past with the help of his relatives. However, he had not agreed to it,” he said.