Man 'donates' finger at Tirupati as thanks for bail to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in National Herald case

BENGALURU: Induvalu Suresh, a 35-year-old granite businessman from Ramanagaram, 60 kilometres from Bengaluru, is now being hailed as Congress Ekalavya (after the archer Eklavya in Mahabharata, who sacrificed his right thumb for Guru Dronacharya), after he cut his left hand's little finger as an offering to the Tirupati hundi. The offering was made as thanksgiving after leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were granted bail in the National Herald case in December last year.

On December 25, Suresh went to Tirupati, chopped off his little finger and dropped it in the hundi as a token of gratitude. "The entire Congress party was worried, when Sonia and Rahul were summoned by the court. I took a vow that if my leaders are granted bail I will offer my finger to God," Suresh told TOI here.

On Saturday, he was summoned by housing minister M H Ambareesh, of whom Suresh is also a fan, to meet him at his residence in J P Nagar in Bengaluru. The minister, who was aghast at what Suresh had done, said, "You are Kalyug's Ekalavya. But we don't want sychophancy of pain."

Suresh said that he had not informed his family and went to Tirupati with a friend. When asked if nobody noticed his actions, he said: "I wrapped the finger in a Rs 1,000 note with a letter thanking God for granting bail to Sonia and Rahul and dropped it in the hundi. I did not feel the pain when I cut my finger. Later, I went to the hospital adjacent to the temple and told the doctor that I lost my finger while repairing the AC compressor of my car."

Suresh said when he met Ambareesh, he was asked: "Why did you do this? You could have taken a padayatra or shown your concern in some other way."
"I told Anna (Ambareesh) that all those are passe. I was perturbed that Sonia and Rahul would be sent to jail," said Suresh.

Housing minister Ambareesh said he wanted to visit Suresh's house when he came to know about the incident on Friday. Due to his preoccupation, he called him to Bengaluru.