BJP team to visit Hanur encounter site, report in a week

Bengaluru: The Karnataka BJP on Tuesday, August 18, formed a five-member fact-finding committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Hanur encounter in Chamarajanagar district, where three suspected poachers were killed in an exchange of fire with forest personnel.

The committee will visit the spot, gather information from local residents and officials, examine the circumstances leading to the firing and submit a comprehensive report to the party within a week.

The team comprises BJP state vice-president N. Mahesh, state secretary Lakshmi Ashwin Gowda, Minority Morcha state president Anil Thomas, former MLA C.S. Niranjan Kumar and party leader Hanur Venkatesh.

Incident happened on August 15

The committee was constituted following questions raised by the BJP over the circumstances surrounding the deaths. The incident took place around 5 am on August 15 in the Holemuradatti forest area near Shagya in the Hanur Wildlife Range of the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.

BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra said the party wanted the fact-finding team to establish the sequence of events and determine whether forest personnel followed due procedure.

He has also demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident, arguing that a magisterial inquiry alone would not be sufficient to address the concerns raised over the firing.

Vijayendra questioned whether the alleged presence of the three men in the forest for hunting justified the use of lethal force. He also sought an examination of claims that the forest personnel had surrounded the suspected poachers and that the incident occurred in darkness.

The BJP has demanded Rs 1 crore compensation for each of the three families and a government job for one member of each family.

The state government has already ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident, with Kollegal Assistant Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Meena conducting the probe.

The BJP said its fact-finding exercise would help the party assess the circumstances independently and decide its further course of action after receiving the committee’s report.