Srinath
RTI Activist
Karnataka

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on 3 March regarding the gruesome murder of an RTI activist Mr. Srinath for using the Right to Information Act (RTI) to expose corruption and irregularities in a land site allocation in the Mandya district of Karnataka. Mr. Srinath, 36, was an RTI activist and resident of the Mandya district. He had exposed misappropriation of funds in layouts which were being developed by the workers; union attached to a central government agency and had also informed the anti-corruption bureau about certain officials who had amassed wealth through illegal sources and means.

On December 29, 2016, at about 7.30 PM, Mr. Srinath left home accompanied by an engineer, Mr. Chandrashekar, and Mr. Kumar, for some work in south Mysuru. When he did not return home, his family filed a missing person complaint at the Kuvempu Nagar police station the next morning. Few hours after the complaint was filed, his body was found in the Cauvery river near Srirangapatna in Mandya. It is believed that the perpetrators had killed him elsewhere, rolled up his body in a carpet, and dumped him in the river near the Nimishamba temple with the body bearing multiple stab wounds, including on his private parts.

The police found that Mr. Srinath's body was wrapped in four bedsheets and a pit had been dug near the body where turmeric, kumkum, eggs, and other items were found so as to make it appear as a case of black magic in order to mislead the investigation.