Well known Hindi author Uday Prakash has decided to return Sahitya Akademi award as a mark of protest against the death of Kannada scholar and researcher Prof M M Kalburgi by unidentified assailants.<br/><br/>Former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi University, M M Kalburgi, who won the Sahitya Akademi award for his collection of research articles in 2006, was attacked at his residence by unidentified assailants in Karnataka on August 30.<br/><br/>Uday Prakash told PTI over phone from his native village Sitapur in Anuppur district of Madhya Pradesh that the incident of the Kannada researcher Prof Kalburgi has shaken him to the core and he will return the cash prize and citation to the Akademi once he reaches Delhi on September 8.<br/><br/>Prakash was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award in 2010 for the stories collection 'Mohan Das'.<br/><br/>Kalburgi had won the central and state Sahitya Akademi awards.