Farm owner’s stray bullet injured Sri Sri devotee: Police (Second Lead)

BANGALORE - The week-long mystery over a firing incident at the Art of Living complex ended Saturday with the police saying a farm owner had fired two rounds to scare away stray dogs but one of them went off track and injured a devotee of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The farm owner, identified as Mahadev Prasad, was detained for sometime Saturday but was let off after questioning about the May 30 incident, police said adding no case can be made against him.

“The farm is adjacent to the ashram. The owner says he fired two rounds from his .32 caliber pistol (May 30 evening). One of the bullets injured Vinay (a follower of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar),” Karnataka Director General of Police Ajay Kumar Singh told reporters here.

With both Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and his devotees telling the police they only heard a loud sound and did not know it was firing till the bullet was found, police questioned the people around the area to find who had a .32 calibre pistol.

“He has a licensed pistol. Ballistic experts who examined the bullet found at the ashram and the farm owner’s pistol confirmed that it had been fired from this weapon,” Singh said.

Asked why Prasad had not approached the police to clarify the situation, Singh said the owner had stated that since he had fired the bullets around 6 p.m. and reports about it came more than four hours later, he thought some one else might have done it and kept quiet.

In a statement Ravi Shankar said: “We are satisfied with the police investigation. They have put an end to all sorts of speculations and stories.” Ravi Shankar said in a statement from his ashram on Kanakapura Road, around 25 km from the city.

Refuting the charge that the incident was enacted to get Z class security for him, Ravi Shankar said though he was entitled to it, he did not want it as it would restrict him from his devotees and the people.

“I dismiss this (charge) because although I am entitled to it, I do not want it as it will restrict me. People also said that this was our publicity stunt. I don’t need this kind of cheap publicity,” Ravi Shankar, who has millions of followers in India and overseas, asserted.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and his devotees had claimed that the spiritual leader was the target.

However, police chief Singh as well as Home Minister P. Chidambaram had disagreed and asserted that Sri Sri, who has millions of followers in India and abroad was not the target.

Singh had said May 31: “We are treating this as an incident and not an attack on guruji.”

The same day Chidambaram said in New Delhi that it appeared to be the result of a brawl between devotees.

The Art of Living founder had taken strong exception to the state police and the home minister not treating it as an attack on his life.

The Art of Living ashram is on Kanakapura Road, about 25 km from Bangalore city centre.