What Ails Police Officers in Congress Ruled Karnataka?

With two police officers committing suicide within a week in Karnataka, several questions are being raised regarding the level of harassment prevailing in police departments due to a criminal nexus and interference by ruling party leaders. As per this OneIndia report, Deputy Superintendent of Police MS Ganapathi killed himself by hanging from the ceiling fan in his hometown. He has left an audio visual suicide note blaming senior police officers and Bengaluru Development and Town Planning Minister (and ex-Home Minister) KJ George & his son Rana George for driving him to death.

As per local media reports, the deceased officer’s son Nehal has filed a complaint in Additional Civil Court against the police officers and KJ George who Ganapathi named in his note. His wife, Pavana is aggressively defending her late husband’s remarks in his suicide note. She is saying that her late husband was frequently transferred and there was a lot of pressure on him. She also claims the the police did not document her statements while she was present in the hospital on the postmortem day.

In the same week, DSP Kalappa Handibag also committed suicide after an FIR was filed against him for extortion. As per this news report, he was most likely trapped by the gambling mafia operating in Chikmagaluru. Quoting this report:

“Police have apparently found several discrepancies in the claims made by the man who was allegedly kidnapped and later accused DSP Kalappa Handibag of receiving Rs 10 lakh as ransom. “The DSP was trapped. He was unaware of any kidnapping,’’ police sources familiar with the CID investigation said.

In the Assembly Tuesday, an MLA alleged that DSP Handibag was trapped by the gambling mafia in Chikmagaluru for targeting its activities. “There are Rs 60 lakh worth of transactions everyday in the illegal gambling business and DSP Kalappa Handibag was trapped falsely in a kidnapping case for targeting this racket. A former minister from Chikmagaluru has been protecting this racket,’’ MLA A S Patil Nadahalli said.”

In another case from last year, though the CBI investigation conlcuded that the popular IAS officer DK Ravi who had died mysteriously in March 2015 in Karnataka, committed suicide, the case remains truly mysterious and hints at political pressure having been the reason of suicide.

DK Ravi was known for running a crusade against the illegal sand mafia in Kolar. While posted there, it is said that he had ‘heated’ run-ins with Congress leader and former Union minister KH Muniyappa and an independent MLA from Kolar – R Varthur Prakash.

A few months before his death, DK Ravi had taken over as joint commissioner of commercial taxes and was chasing builders in Bengaluru who had been evading taxes for years. Among the real estate companies he pursued were the Embassy Group, partly owned by then state Home Minister KJ George, Sobha Developers, which has close links with Congress MLA DK Shivakumar (current Minister for Energy), and real estate company Confident Group owned by Congress legislator SN Narayanawamy.

His father in law had alleged last year that CCTV footages were deleted during investigation. While his personal life was brought into public and blamed for his suicide, his case too points at undue pressure from senior police officers and Congress politicians.

Christian Congress Leader KJ George Plays Minority Card

Under fire Congress leader and Bengaluru Development and Town Planning Minister KJ George claimed he is being targeted since his name is ‘George’, i.e since he is Christian. CM Siddaramaiah has echoed this ‘secular’ defense and claimed George had no role to play in DySP Ganapathi’s suicide, thereby completely dismissing what the departed officer says in his suicide note. Known for his proximity to Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi which initially landed him the key and sensitive home portfolio, KJ George has been embroiled in one controversy after another ever since Congress came to power in Karnataka in 2013. His term as Home Minister saw a sharp deterioration in the law & order situation across Karnataka as is clear from the brutal hackings of Hindu activists like Prashant Poojary, K Raju and Yogeesh Goudhar.

The police and administrative cadre also are in complete disarray under the current Congress Government. Apart from the three suicides detailed above which are linked to intimidation by Congress ministers and MLAs, other officers too have similar complaints – DySP Anupama Shenoy resigned from the police force claiming harassment by Labour Minister PT Parameshwar Naik; Police Inspector G N Mohan was hounded for filing an FIR against the CM’s son;  and Mysore Deputy Commissioner C Shikha has charged Congress leader and CM Siddaramaiah’s confidante K Marigowda for intimidating her.

But George & Siddaramaiah have played their cards well – they know that claiming ‘minority’ victimhood will save them and their party from any serious media scrutiny, unlike ex-CM and BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa who’s position was destabilized though a vicious media trial over flimsy allegations that have now been quashed by courts. In Bharat, secularism truly is the last resort of the corrupt. This tweet sums up the double standards currently prevailing in our media and polity –

What happens to cops who take on CON vs what happens to cops who take on Modi. Modi’s a fascist alright. pic.twitter.com/aX6pu3tBcj

— pracchannAstrin (@WordOfTheFree) July 7, 2016