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Bangalore: Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar today dismissed suggestions that the firing at his ashram could be due to some internal rivalry and said police cannot absolve itself of its responsibility by taking it lightly and should investigate properly.
'Let us not speculate on this. It cannot be brushed off as some personal enmity. I am very hurt at such reports,' he told reporters here when asked about reports on some police personnel indicating that the firing might have been due to internal rivalry among devotees. Describing such reports as 'baseless', he said, 'Police cannot absolve itself of its responsibility by taking it
lightly. It has to be investigated properly. The fact is that the bullet was fired in the direction of my car and a devotee has been injured. It has to be taken seriously and probed.' An unidentified gunman had yesterday fired a shot at the convoy of the 54-year-old spiritual leader when he was returning to his 'kutir' after delivering a discourse to his followers. On DGP Ajai Kumar Singh terming the firing as an incident and not an attack, he said, 'What is an attack. What is an incident. I do not know.' Meanwhile, administrative head of the ashram Narendra Lamba said, 'It could be a threat, it could be a terror
attack. Police has to take the responsibility and probe.' On what he meant by terror attack, Lamba said it could have been 'to create some confusion, some chaos and settle some score or the other. Not a score with Guruji (Ravi Shankar), but since he has reformed many Naxalites who have come here, surrendered, transformed and joined the mainstream, this may not go well with others.' Recounting the firing incident, Ravi Shankar said after finishing the 'satsang', we reach the car and boarded it 'and it had just started moving when we heard a loud sound, thought it could be something which had fallen down, a cracker burst or a generator burst. It took us sometime to figure out exactly what had happened.'
Ravi Shankar said it did take some time to report to police as the facts had to be ascertained properly. Besides, the police station was 45 minutes away from the ashram and heavy rains hampered communication. 'When we called the police, they did not think it was a big (incident) and thought they could come later as it was raining...I do not have any enemies. In my 55 years, I have not cursed anybody. I cannot understand what could be the motive. It is for the police to investigate,' he said.
He, however, said, 'I am happy with the security cover I have.I do not need anymore security. It will create a distance between me and the devotees.' 'I have forgiven him (attacker). Let him come here to do 'pranayama'. He will be reformed,' he said. The spiritual leader said in the past, many from Jharkhand and Kashmir who had come to the ashram had
surrendered, reformed and joined the mainstream. People from all religions had come here and gained from the experience, he said.
Secretary to Ravi Shankar, Girin Govind, said the firing took place when Guruji had just boarded the car and closed the door and not after the convoy left. 'He had just got into the car, closed the door.I was driving the car, we just started moving when we heard the loud noise,' he said. Vinay Kollur Muth, a software engineer from Belgaum and working in Bangalore, who had suffered a minor injury when the bullet grazed his thigh, said, 'After attending the satsang, I and my batch mates, about 20 or 30, were standing near the footwear stand. There was a big sound. Something came and hit my thigh.I felt great pain and burning sensation and I observed a bullet lying near my feet. I informed the security guard about it.' PTI
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'Let us not speculate on this. It cannot be brushed off as some personal enmity. I am very hurt at such reports,' he told reporters here when asked about reports on some police personnel indicating that the firing might have been due to internal rivalry among devotees. Describing such reports as 'baseless', he said, 'Police cannot absolve itself of its responsibility by taking it
lightly. It has to be investigated properly. The fact is that the bullet was fired in the direction of my car and a devotee has been injured. It has to be taken seriously and probed.' An unidentified gunman had yesterday fired a shot at the convoy of the 54-year-old spiritual leader when he was returning to his 'kutir' after delivering a discourse to his followers. On DGP Ajai Kumar Singh terming the firing as an incident and not an attack, he said, 'What is an attack. What is an incident. I do not know.' Meanwhile, administrative head of the ashram Narendra Lamba said, 'It could be a threat, it could be a terror
attack. Police has to take the responsibility and probe.' On what he meant by terror attack, Lamba said it could have been 'to create some confusion, some chaos and settle some score or the other. Not a score with Guruji (Ravi Shankar), but since he has reformed many Naxalites who have come here, surrendered, transformed and joined the mainstream, this may not go well with others.' Recounting the firing incident, Ravi Shankar said after finishing the 'satsang', we reach the car and boarded it 'and it had just started moving when we heard a loud sound, thought it could be something which had fallen down, a cracker burst or a generator burst. It took us sometime to figure out exactly what had happened.'
Ravi Shankar said it did take some time to report to police as the facts had to be ascertained properly. Besides, the police station was 45 minutes away from the ashram and heavy rains hampered communication. 'When we called the police, they did not think it was a big (incident) and thought they could come later as it was raining...I do not have any enemies. In my 55 years, I have not cursed anybody. I cannot understand what could be the motive. It is for the police to investigate,' he said.
He, however, said, 'I am happy with the security cover I have.I do not need anymore security. It will create a distance between me and the devotees.' 'I have forgiven him (attacker). Let him come here to do 'pranayama'. He will be reformed,' he said. The spiritual leader said in the past, many from Jharkhand and Kashmir who had come to the ashram had
surrendered, reformed and joined the mainstream. People from all religions had come here and gained from the experience, he said.
Secretary to Ravi Shankar, Girin Govind, said the firing took place when Guruji had just boarded the car and closed the door and not after the convoy left. 'He had just got into the car, closed the door.I was driving the car, we just started moving when we heard the loud noise,' he said. Vinay Kollur Muth, a software engineer from Belgaum and working in Bangalore, who had suffered a minor injury when the bullet grazed his thigh, said, 'After attending the satsang, I and my batch mates, about 20 or 30, were standing near the footwear stand. There was a big sound. Something came and hit my thigh.I felt great pain and burning sensation and I observed a bullet lying near my feet. I informed the security guard about it.' PTI
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