Unknown assailants gun down Congress MLA

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

Director General of Police, T Srinivasulu, told PTI that `personal andpolitical enmity’ was suspected to be behind the killing. Ulvekar toldreporters later in Manipal that the murder could have been the handiwork ofsome underworld elements. In a swift reaction, the Karnataka Governmentordered an enquiry by the Corps of Detectives (COD). Chief Minister S MKrishna, who airdashed from Shimoga to Manipal, where the body of Asnotikarwas kept, said police had already gathered some clues. Home MinisterMallikarjuna Kharge said in Bangalore that `three to four persons have beentaken into custody on suspicion.’

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

“Various teams have been sent in different directions to nab theculprits”, Kharge added. The killing is the second such incident to takeplace in Uttara Kannada district in the last few years. Some five years ago,BJP MLA, Dr Chittaranjan, was shot dead at Bhatkal. Asnotikar was firstelected 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 VDeshpande who is presently the Large and Medium Industries Minister.

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