Bangalore: The bullet that hit a devotee at the Art of Living headquarters outside Bangalore last Sunday, caused alarm - with fears that spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar was the target. But police now say it was just a stray bullet - fired by a farmer to frighten a stray dog.
No arrests have been made - the farmer, Mahadev Prasad, had a licence for the revolver.
"It is conclusively proved that the bullet was from his revolver. The farm owner did not have any intention to murder anyone. The ashram was not visible from the farm house though it was located nearby across the road," said Ajai Kumar Singh, DGP, Karnataka.
"The fact that the bullet hit our devotee - we stand by that ...We should drop this one bullet incident and focus on quelling violence in the country. Yesterday Maoists came here and I pleaded with them to accept olive branch offered by Home Minister. There are so many bullets flying around and I am glad this one was sorted out ...That day itself I said I have no enemies," Sri Sri Ravishankar, spiritual leader.
The ashram had earlier objected to Home Minister Chidambaram describing the shooting as a possible dispute between devotees, saying it should be taken seriously.
There was never panic over the shooting here at the Art of Living headquarters, and based on what the police say, there was no cause for it either. A stray dog, a stray bullet - now officially considered the answer to the riddle of that mysterious shooting.