FIR against writer KS Bhagwan for 'hurting religious sentiments'

An FIR against rationalist free-thinker and writer​ KS Bhagwan was filed on Wednesday in Mangalore for hurting religious sentiments. 

Earlier on Wednesday, a man working as a hostel warden and priest was arrested at Hubballi in north Karnataka for allegedly making threat calls to Karnataka Sahitya Academy for choosing KS Bhagwan for annual Honorary Awards for Lifetime Achievement for 2013. The arrested person was tracked down on Tuesday through the mobile phone used by him, police said on Wednesday.

Following the announcement of the award, which will be presented to Bhagwan and others on November 7 in Dharwad, Sahitya Academy had complained about receiving a threatening call. 

Academy officials had also said they had received several abusive calls for choosing Bhagwan for the award, following which police had provided security to the literary body. Recently a letter threatening Bhagwan was delivered to his residence at Mysuru, which came close on the heels of the murder of another noted Kannada progressive thinker and scholar M M Kalburgi in Dharwad.

Bhagwan had incurred the wrath of right-wing activists after he allegedly disparaged the Bhagawad Gita while speaking at a programme in Mysuru in February this year.