Police say the incident was a result of internal rivalry in the Art of Living ashram.
A day after the alleged assassination attempt on Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, questions revolve around if it was indeed a bid on his life.
Union home minister P Chidambaram said on Monday the 54-year-old spiritual leader might not have been the target of the attack. “Our reports say the incident took place after Sri Sri left the place in his car and, therefore, it may not be correct, I underline, may not be correct, to say the firing was aimed at him,” he said.
Chidambaram also suspected that the firing was a result of a “dispute between two of his [Sri Sri’s] followers”, which has also been the line of police.
Karnataka director general of police Ajai Kumar Singh too downplayed the firing saying it was an “incident”, not a “targetted attack” on the guru. “Whether it was meant at a person or not, we cannot say at the moment,” he said.
Vinay Mallikarjun, a devotee standing about 50 metres away, was reportedly hit in the thigh which police said was not even bleeding. However, the guru and his ashramites maintain the shot fired from about 700 feet away was aimed at him, and looked like an attempt on his life. Sri Sri took potshots at police and Chidambaram, saying “those who say there is rivalry in the ashram are absolving themselves of the responsibilities of investigation”.
Several questions linger. The attacker remains unidentified in spite of the fact that he appeared to have fired from the steps of the vishalakshi mantap, 700 feet from where the guru was getting into his car.
The guru says he had got into the car but not driven away when the firing took place. But what remains a mystery for police is why the attacker would fire a .32 round from a distance of 700 feet if the intention was to kill Sri Sri. A .32 round fired from such a distance is way outside the effective range (the distance in which the bullet can kill a person).
It is also unclear why it took so long for the guru or his devotees to inform police. The attack took place at 6.05 pm, while police were notified only around 9 pm.
“There was a crowd and it took us a while to realise that someone had fired. Panic could have resulted in a stampede,” Sri Sri said.
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