Cong MLA shot dead in Karwar

Police said a supporter of 47-year-old Asnotikar and a city municipal council member, Ganapathy Ulvekar, who was standing near him, was injured in the incident, but was out of danger. According to police, the motor-cycle-borne assailants fired at Asnotikar from close range when he was standing near a marriage hall in Karwar town in Uttara Kannada district, some 520 kms from here, and fled the scene. Asnotikar, elected twice from Karwar Assembly Constituency, succumbed on way to a hospital at Manipal after initially being given treatment at Karwar.

Director General of Police, T Srinivasulu, told PTI that `personal and political enmity’ was suspected to be behind the killing. Ulvekar told reporters later in Manipal that the murder could have been the handiwork of some underworldelements. In a swift reaction, the Karnataka Government ordered an enquiry by the Corps of Detectives (COD). Chief Minister S M Krishna, who airdashed from Shimoga to Manipal, where the body of Asnotikar was kept, said police had already gathered some clues. Home Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge said in Bangalore that `three to four persons have been taken into custody on suspicion.’

The shooting incident took place when Asnotikar was supervising preparations for the reception on Sunday to celebrate the wedding of his daughter, which was held at Mumbai recently. Expressing shock over the killing, Krishna said the Government would initiate a comprehensive look to tackle the security problems facing coastal Karnataka. All peoples’ representatives in coastal Karnataka would given special security, he announced. Kharge said the COD has been asked to submit the report as early as possible: “We will be able to apprehend the culprits within the next few days.”

“Various teams have been sent in differentdirections to nab the culprits”, Kharge added. The killing is the second such incident to take place in Uttara Kannada district in the last few years. Some five years ago, BJP MLA, Dr Chittaranjan, was shot dead at Bhatkal. Asnotikar was first elected to the Assembly in 1994 on a Karnataka Congress Party (KCP) ticket. Later, he joined the Janata Dal, and then the Congress along with R V Deshpande who is presently the Large and Medium Industries Minister.

In the Assembly elections last year, he had defeated BJP’s Prabhakar Rane and retained the Karwar seat. Asnotikar is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.