The investigation into the death of a young Congress activist during violent political clashes in Karnataka’s Ballari district has taken a dramatic turn, with forensic findings now reshaping the narrative around the incident. Authorities probing the fatal violence say scientific evidence has linked the bullet that killed 28-year-old Congress worker Rajashekhar to a firearm carried by a security personnel attached to a sitting Congress legislator.
Rajashekhar lost his life amid intense clashes between Congress and BJP supporters that erupted on Thursday evening in Ballari. While the incident initially appeared to be a street-level political confrontation, postmortem and ballistic examinations have reportedly revealed a more complex chain of events. A bullet fragment extracted from the victim’s body during an autopsy conducted at Ballari Medical College has been identified as ammunition commonly used in weapons assigned to the security cover of Congress MLA Nara Bharat Reddy.
Investigators have seized multiple firearms belonging to both private and government-provided gunmen assigned to the MLA and his associates. These weapons were secured and sent for forensic comparison, along with material collected from the scene of the violence. Senior officials involved in the probe said preliminary reports suggest a strong match between the recovered bullet fragment and one of the seized firearms, indicating that the fatal shot may have originated from within the MLA’s security cordon rather than from rival party supporters.
In a significant administrative development following the incident, Ballari Superintendent of Police Pavan Nejjur has been suspended pending a departmental inquiry. Nejjur had taken charge only days earlier, making the suspension an unusual but telling move as pressure mounts over the handling of the violence.
The political fallout has intensified after complaints filed by the BJP led to the registration of multiple FIRs at Brucepet police station. The cases name MLA Nara Bharat Reddy, several of his family members, and dozens of supporters. The allegations include unlawful entry into a rival legislator’s residence, use of caste-based slurs, and attempts to carry out violent attacks. In total, more than 60 individuals have been listed across two separate cases.
The clashes reportedly began when Congress supporters installed banners near the residence of BJP MLA Janardhana Reddy in connection with an upcoming statue unveiling. What started as a verbal dispute soon spiraled into chaos, with both sides accusing each other of provocation and violence. While the BJP has alleged that shots were fired by supporters of the Congress MLA, the Congress leadership has rejected these claims, calling them politically motivated.
