Krishna happy with CoD investigation

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 16. The Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, has expressed satisfaction over the investigation being made by the Corps of Detectives (CoD) on explosions in churches in Bangalore, Hubli and Wadi.

He told presspersons here on Sunday that the investigations had brought the ``Government close to the truth.'' It would soon be clear who the culprits were. He was speaking after his visit to St. Peter's and St. Paul's Church at Jagjivanram Nagar here, where an explosion occurred on July 9.

Replying to a question, he said he always believed that the executive should not interfere with the investigations and also not jump to conclusions. ``I have left the entire task to the CoD and have given it total freedom. The CoD has lived up to my expectations.''

Mr. Krishna said that during his trip to Delhi, the performance of the State Police Department and the Corp of Detectives in particular had come in for praise.

Asked if there was a need for CBI probe into the explosion in churches, Mr. Krishna ruled it out saying there was no reason to hand over the case to the CBI specially when the CoD had made a major breakthrough.When his attention was drawn to the BJP's demand for unconditional apology from parties that had blamed the Sangh Parivar for the blasts, Mr. Krishna retorted: ``I do not speak for the BJP or any other political outfit. I speak for the State Government. Investigations are on, and we are not coming to rash conclusions.''

Earlier addressing a gathering at the church, Mr. Krishna assured the members of the Christian community that the Government was doing everything possible to fix the responsibility and punish the perpetrators of criminal acts and vandalism.

Mr. Krishna allayed fears saying the Government had taken steps to keep a close surveillance on every church, mosque and temple so that people could worship in peace.

The Government would deal with the offenders ruthlessly, he said. Describing the Christians as ``forgiving people'' and ``forgiveness is the hallmark of the Christian community,'' he pointed out that the Government knew no forgiveness when it concerned the perpetrators of criminal acts.

Mr. V. V. Bhaskar, Director General of Police, CoD, told the gathering that the Government had promised to repair the damaged churches.`` The Archbishop of Bangalore, Rev. Fr. Ignatius Pinto, exhorted the people to be forgiving and tolerant.

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