Bengaluru, Aug 24: T D R Harischandra Gowda, a self-proclaimed soothsayer in Karnataka, got into trouble after the High Court dismissed his plea and imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on him. According to a report by The New Indian, 65-year old Gowda had to pay a price for filing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking an investigation against authorities who failed to prevent the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008 despite him predicting the deadly attack in 2005.

Gowda, who hails from Tudur village in Thirthahalli taluk of Shivamogga district in Karnataka, has filed several PILs before the High Court, argued the case on his own. In his plea, Gowda had sought directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs to investigate and take action and fix liability on bureaucrats who ‘acted negligently and failed to prevent’ the terror attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

The report informs that a division bench of Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice R Devdas directed him to deposit the cost with the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (Natural Calamity-2018) within 30 days. Apart from the fine, Gowda gave an undertaking before the court that he will see to it that he doesn’t file any such PILs in future.

According to reports, in one such petition that he filed, Gowda sought directions to the Governor to invite him to be sworn in as Chief Minister to form the government in order to make Karnataka corruption free. The Court had, however, dismissed it. Regarding the PIL, the High Court observed, “Going through the petition, there is no genuine cause in this PIL. We are inclined to dismiss the petition imposing an exemplary cost”. Following this, Gowda had said that he would not file such PIL and approach the court only for public cause.

The report also states the soothsayer also presented a letter dated November 26, 2000 written to Congress leader D K Shivakumar where he had claimed that the attack could have been prevented if (then) Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh conducts special puja at Sri Venkataramana Swamy temple at Tudur in Mandagadde hobli of Shivamogga district.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 24, 2018 03:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).