Ballari clash: Congress leaders deny Kumaraswamy’s ‘double postmortem’ claim; Union minister doubles down

Union Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Kumaraswamy (right) addresses a press conference, in Bengaluru, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (PTI Photo)

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday denied Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s allegation that two postmortems were conducted on a Congress worker to incriminate BJP MLA Janardhan Reddy in last week’s political violence that took place outside his Ballari home. The JD(S) leader, however, stood by his claim.

“Has the leader seen two postmortems being conducted? The doctor who conducted the postmortem has clarified. Whom should we believe?” Parameshwara asked.

Rajashekar Reddy was killed in the January 1 clash between BJP and Congress workers over putting up a banner in front of Janardhan Reddy’s home, ahead of the scheduled installation of a Valmiki statue.

Shivakumar, who travelled to Ballari on Tuesday, said Kumaraswamy was misleading people. “I don’t know who did the research and gave him this information. I enquired with the district health officer, who said that only one application was received for the postmortem,” he said.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar meets the family members of late Congress worker Rajashekhar Reddy, in Ballari, Karnataka. (Karnataka DCM office via PTI Photo)

The deputy chief minister said the BJP MLA and his supporters had torn up a banner put up for the Valmiki event and that Kumaraswamy’s allegation was part of a ploy to conceal it. “The fact-finding committee set up by the Congress has revealed that the violence was the result of jealousy caused by the response to the construction of the Valmiki statue,” he said.

And the Union minister demanded that the superintendent of the Ballari Institute of Medical Sciences (BIMS) undergo brain mapping to “bring out the truth”. He first made the allegation at a news conference on Monday.

Kumaraswamy wrote on X that if his allegation of a double postmortem was not true, “then immediately conduct brain-mapping of BIMS superintendent. Then your postmortem magic will be exposed”.

The Union minister asked why a second doctor had been brought for the autopsy and how many doctors were required to examine a dead body. “I also know about the quarrel that took place between those two doctors during the postmortem,” he wrote.

Kumaraswamy earlier alleged that a second postmortem was conducted to buttress a complaint filed by a relative of Rajashekar Reddy that the MLA had fired the shot that killed him.