Firing incident not an attack on Ravi Shankar: Police chief

BANGALORE - The Karnataka police is not treating the firing incident at Art of Living complex here late Sunday as a bid on its founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s life, Director General of Police Ajay Kumar Singh said Monday.

“From the evidence we got, we are treating it as an incident and not as an attack on guruji (Ravi Shankar),” Singh told reporters at the complex on Kanakapura Road, about 25 km from Bangalore city.

A devotee Vinay Kollumath, who hails from Belgaum in north Karnataka and works as software professional in Bangalore, suffered a minor injury as the bullet brushed past his right thigh.

“I won’t call it an attack as such because the bullet was fired five minutes after guruji left. The bullet was not aimed at any person per se, as it seems to have been fired not only from a distance but also in the air,” the state police chief said.

He said the bullet was fired from an illegally-made pistol of 0.32 calibre by an unidentified person between 6.05-6.10 p.m. in the ashram premises five minutes after Ravi Shankar left the spot in his car.

“We are investigating the case on some leads we got. From the preliminary evidence, we have from the injured victim Vinay, the bullet was fired from a distance of 700-750 feet and its trajectory was up in the air,” Singh said.

The bullet was handed late Sunday over to the investigating team by the foundation members.

“We are also inquiring into the three hour delay in informing the police of the incident,” the police chief said.

He said no one present at the spot saw the gunman and are unable to describe his features.

“We have stepped up security in and around the premises,” he said.