Jain Muni's death: Oppn bid to give a communal angle to case falls flat

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Irrespective of which political parties they belong to, all ministers and politicians in the state have condemned the brutal murder of Jain Muni Acharya Sri Kamakumar Nandi Maharaj.

However, there are a few BJP MLAs who have been attempting to rake up the issue for the sake of political gain and at the cost of communal harmony.

While political debates are going on in the state in this matter, News Trail takes a deep dive to understand the details of the murder. Digambar Jain seer, Acharya Sri Kamakumar Nandi Maharaj, 58, repor tedly went missing from his Basadi (monastery) at Nandi Parvata in Belagavi on July 5.

According to sources, he was staying there for the past 15 years. A missing case was filed by the Jain Charitable Trust of Hirekodi, Bheemappa Ugare and the devotees of the Jain Muni on July 6.

During the investigation, suspicion fell on Narayana Basappa Maali, an acquaintance of the deceased, who was subsequently taken into custody and questioned by the Chikkodi police.

Grilled by the cops, the suspect confessed to the crime and said that the body was chopped to pieces and disposed of in a borewell with the help of his friend, Hassansab Dalayath.

Belagavi Superintendent of Police (SP) Dr Sanjiv Patil, stated that the main accused, Narayana Maali, was an acquaintance of the monk and lived in the same ashram.

He had reportedly confessed to having killed Muni Kamakumar Nandi and disposed of the body with the help of his aide, Hassan Dalayath. According to prima facie evidence, the murder was over financial matters. During the investigation, it came to light that the monk had lent Narayana Maali Rs 8 lakh, belonging to the Jain Trust.

Later the monk had been insisting that the accused return the money, following which the accused got annoyed and plotted to kill him. To get rid of the body, Narayana enlisted the help of Hassan Dalayath, who chopped up the body and helped dispose of the body in a defunct borewell.

The FIR (First Information Report) stated that the accused killed the seer by strangulating him with a towel at the ashram and later shifted the body to Khatakbhavi village where both the accused cut the seer's body into pieces and dumped them into a borewell.

The accused had also burnt a diary that belonged to the pontiff. After confessing to the crime, the main accused, Maali, asked the police officers to shoot him or he would kill himself.

However, the matter has given rise to hate mongering and misinformation online, with several users making e communal claims over the incident, even as the authorities clarified that the motive was financial.

Meanwhile the police produced both the accused before a court and have secured their custody till July 17.