A Bizarre End to the Sri Sri ‘Incident’

[icemanV]

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010 ... india_main

So it turns out that the shot fired on the evening of May 30 near the ashram of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the outskirts of Bangalore was, in fact, carefully aimed.

It’s just that it was aimed to scare away feral dogs which had been bothering farm animals, not to kill the Art of Living founder and revered guru.

Karnataka’s director general of police, Ajai Kumar Singh, said Saturday that the bullet that ultimately grazed an Art of Living devotee was fired by local farm owner, Mahadeva Prasad, who was fed up with stray dogs pestering his animals and intended to scare the canines away. He fired shots from his 0.32 caliber pistol, one of which traveled 2,500 feet, or just short of 800 yards, or almost half a mile before bumping into the devotee’s leg at a velocity too slow to cause serious injury.

It was a suitably odd conclusion to an episode in which no-one involved - save perhaps the Bangalore police – has come out shining. Many newspapers were too quick to hype a story before any confirmable facts were in. As a result, almost every salient fact they had initially was wrong.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram suggested publically that the shot had been fired as part of a dispute between two of the guru’s followers, which turns out to be not the case.

And Art of Living officials and Mr. Shankar face a number of awkward questions concerning their responses.

From the beginning, Art of Living helped propagate the idea that the bullet was aimed at the guru. It issued a statement May 30 entitled “statement regarding firing attempt on Sri Sri’s convoy.”

Its first line read: “An unidentified assailant shot at Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s convoy as he was leaving from a public Satsang at around 6:00 pm on Sunday in Bangalore. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was unhurt. The bullet missed Sri Sri but struck an Art of Living member’s thigh causing minor injury.”

The statement also included a generous sound bite from the guru: “Many people are suffering due to violence. We need to convey the message of peace and non-violence to every household by reinforcing the human values of compassion, friendliness and service.” The following day, Mr. Shankar, in an interview with NDTV, invited his attacker to come to his ashram, saying all was forgiven.

Overall, they created the strong impression, both directly and indirectly, that the guru’s life was in danger, something that must have been very alarming to his millions of followers worldwide.

The foundation has been quick to act when it feels it has been maligned. Later the same week, for instance, it expressed its displeasure with Mr. Chidambaram’s (false) suggestion that the incident stemmed from a dispute between two disciples. But it has been silent on clearing up other issues and contradictions that would be helpful to our complete understanding of what happened.

For instance, the May 30 statement said the bullet missed Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Undoubtedly true, since he was unharmed. Moreover, the police and Mr. Chidambaram say he had left the ashram about five minutes before the incident happened. So it would be helpful to know from Art of Living where the guru was precisely when the shot was fired and whether he was, in retrospect, ever in any danger?

Some news reports also suggested that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and others heard, even saw, the shot. It would helpful if the Art of Living could clarify whether or not this was true, considering the shot was fired from almost half a mile away five minutes after Mr. Shankar had departed the scene.

The foundation also could have clarified its May 30 statement as soon as it became clear that the statement was not accurate. So far, it hasn’t provided any guidance about why or how it reached the initial conclusion that Mr. Shankar was attacked. Nor has it made it clear subsequently that he was not attacked.

India Real Time has put these questions by email to the Art of Living foundation and we will share its comments when a response is received.

Mr. Shankar, though, seems to be eager to put the incident behind him. “It is a closed chapter and will be forgotten,” he said, according to the Times of India. The Hindustan Times also quoted him as saying, “I don’t want cheap publicity.”

[grewal]

He fired shots from his 0.32 caliber pistol

It was a revolver and it has been confiscated by the police.

which traveled 2,500 feet

It traveled roughly 2700 feet.
These are details published in Hindustan Times Sunday Edition.

[icemanV]

All the info in the post is just FYI. None of the words are mine. All are from the blog whose link is given above.

Ice

[Vikram]

OK.Let's try a fresh approach to the topic.Let's discuss the issue instead of anything else.Thanks.


Best-
Vikram

[Sakobav]

Why was this person firing in the air or at the dog? Lucky no one died ...rest if its true Sri presence added to the drama.

[mundaire]

Anyone have the ballistics info handy, on the kind of bullet drop & energy one should expect from a .32 S&W Long and .32 ACP at 762 metres (2500 ft) to 823 metres (2700 ft)? Lets assume a 4 inch barrel?

[TenX]

Dont have ballastic reports, but what seems divine indeed is:
1. A man shoots a dog, and the bullet climbs an altitude of 40feet (!!!) and travels for 2400 feet before puncturing into a grown up human's thigh!
2. A revolver bullet (probably without rifling) travels 2400 feet.... should be a record.
3. Police claim he had just shot two more rounds before the third (that landed up at Sri Sri's padam)... and wonder why no one ever heard the first two shots - as in previous statements. Even Ravi said he heard a big bang and thought it was crackers!
4. I stay a few kilometers away from the ashram, and given the landscape, with so many trees and vehicle movement inbetween, it seems kinda impossible for the bullet to travel so well and so far.
5. Here is what the pic in the paper says:


Here is an actual Google map view:


The incident area, and almost all of the ashram is many tens of feet higher than the road... and the natural slope of this entire stretch is towards the guy's farm house, from where the bullet is said to have originated. From my basic assumption, the level difference between the start and end is no less than a hundred feet! A hundred feet climb against gravity plus a land coverage of 2500+ feet is seemingly impossible by even Rajnikanth

[Vikram]

Anyone have the ballistics info handy, on the kind of bullet drop & energy one should expect from a .32 S&W Long and .32 ACP at 762 metres (2500 ft) to 823 metres (2700 ft)? Lets assume a 4 inch barrel?

From a kind friend who did the ballistics calculation:

A 71gr bullet at 900 fps- it would be 3326.91 inches low and have 23ft/lbs of energy. It would be moving at 385fps.That means the bullet would drop about 82 metres at that distance! It could be possible if the shot was fired from a much higher elevation.

Or have the police/reporters got the distance wrong? Is there a link to any report that clearly mentions the distance from which the shot was fired according to the police? Thanks.

Best-
Vikram

[TenX]

Hi Vikram, if you would care, pls see the pics I have attached. This place is like 4 kms from my house, and I have marked the areas of incidence.
The distance is not wrong, and the actual elevation that the bullet has traveled is almost absurd
BTW, the report you mentioned - does it cover rifling of the revolver, and does it matter with the length of the barrel?
TenX

[Vikram]

Hi TenX,

Thanks for the confirmation. It is extremely rare to have a smooth bore revolver firing a .32 calibre bullet. Revolvers do not come without rifling these days in the regular handgun calibres.Without rifling, it may have difficulty reaching a mere 100 yards. Barrel length is important as it takes certain length of the barrel for the bullet to develop its full velocity.

If it''s an IOF revolver, it is possible that the barrel length is about 3'' which would again reduce the velocity of the bullet.

Best-
Vikram

[kb100]

Is it possible that he might have shot in the air.. and the bullet took a ballistic arc....? Looks like the only logical explanation.

I dont know but some of the Bangalore old-timers will remember more than one instance of travelers on the then new intermediary ring road (between Indira Nagar and Koramangala) getting hit by stray bullets from the army firing range.

What is ridiculous is this tendency of the media to sensationalize everything now a days... looks like our respected Home Minister is losing it as well!

[Vikram]

Is it possible that he might have shot in the air.. and the bullet took a ballistic arc....? Looks like the only logical explanation.

I dont know but some of the Bangalore old-timers will remember more than one instance of travelers on the then new intermediary ring road (between Indira Nagar and Koramangala) getting hit by stray bullets from the army firing range.

What is ridiculous is this tendency of the media to sensationalize everything now a days... look like our respected Home Minister is losing it as well!

The army uses 7.62X51 NATO or 5.56/.223 rifle cartridges- both cartridges can travel well over a mile and still retain enough energy to cause injury/death.

Not the .32 revolver cartridge.Check the ballistics please.

Best-
Vikram

[kb100]

Other than the basic theory I have very little understanding of Ballistics Vikram... My question was - if someone were to have shot into the air - lets say at an angle of 45 deg to the perpendicular- then would the bullet have enough momentum to carry it the distance that it did?

[TenX]

Vikram.. thanks for that clear-up.
However, and like I mentioned earlier, the entire stretch of land from the divine guruji's presence to the concerned armed farm owner is well over a hundred feet in altitude rise. Is this really possible for the person to have shot in such an angle at dogs from a revolver for it to travel so far and climb such an altitude, and still have enough power left to penetrate a human thugh and bleed!... How about the earlier two shots that no one heard
Something is surely undone

TenX

-- Fri Jun 11, 2010 0:03 --

KB 100, the distance traveled by the projectile is not a perfect parabola. Matter of fact, the max velocity i has on its way down is about as much as what earth's gravity can imbibe on it. Depending on the wind and the bullet weight and the land details, it might have carried, but can mostly not have any impact on its descent.
Vikram, your views pls

[Vikram]

KB100, I owe you an apology. I must have read your post clearly and think carefully instead of shooting off my mouth too fast.

Theoretically,it is possible for the bullet to travel that distance and still retain enough energy,about 23 ft.lb in this case, to cause injury .After all, as Rev. Grumpus R. Maximus reminded me, a 12 ft/lb air rifle can do lots of damage within its range.

Physics does have explanations for this freakish sort of incidents, but we are limited by our extremely finite knowledge of the specifics of this particular incident.

According to TenX's statement, the elevation between the shooting point and the point of injury is about 100 ft=30.48 meter.That requires change in the angle of elevation of the muzzle.Despite that the bullet may reach the target.

However unseemly it looks,the bullet may actually reach the target. However, we need to take into consideration that the wind conditions,apart from other variables, might have been very different from the ideal conditions used in the ballistics calculation.

I am willing to be corrected and my knowledge of ballistics is not very high.

It does make one think hard about shooting into air,doesn't it?

Best-
Vikram