Karnataka’s Home Minister rejects a CBI investigation into the murder of a Jain monk

On Monday, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara ruled out turning over the investigation into the killing of a Jain monk in the Belagavi district while praising the state police’s effectiveness in pursuing the case and making the first arrests.

The corpse of Kamkumar Nandi Maharaj, a resident of the Nand Parvat Ashram in Hirekodi Village, Chikkodi Taluk, is said to have been deposited in a borewell pit in Khatakbhavi Village, Raibag Taluk.

“In such circumstances, no one will engage in politics or other forms of prejudice…After the event was reported to the police and a complaint was made…The offenders have been taken into custody by police after acting quickly. They have taken the appropriate procedures and retrieved the body pieces that were discarded in a borewell pit. I commend the police for acting quickly,” Parameshwara said to reporters.

Parameshwara said he has met with Jain seer Varuru Gunadhara Nandi Maharaj, who has been staging a sit-in protest in Hubballi since the incident, and that he has spoken to him. He added that he has come to hear the seer’s demands and to assure him that steps will be taken to ensure that similar incidents don’t occur again.

In response to a query on the need for a CBI investigation into the event, the Minister said that the police force is effective and that the offenders were promptly apprehended.

“Since the investigation is already ongoing, I don’t see why it should be turned over to the CBI or any other body right now. The investigation has begun, and once it is finished, the truth will be revealed, the police department stated.

In response to a query about claims that the matter has been “neglected as the Jain community is a small vote-bank,” Parameshwara stated making such false accusations is wrong and that everything should be left to the law’s discretion.

He said, “Police operate in a non-partisan way free from outside pressure.

Members of the Jain community have called for a CBI inquiry into Kamkumar Nandi Maharaj’s killing.