Udupi: Cop suspension gets political colour!

Udupi: The suspension of the Udupi Town police station sub-inspector and a constable has taken a political turn and has also united political foes in Udupi- the district of which Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai is the in-charge minister!

Udupi district SP Nisha James had suspended Udupi Town police station SI Anantha Padmanabha and constable Jeevan Kumar for dereliction of duty.

Sources said that the two were suspended as they had not registered an FIR and failed to apprise higher officials about a moral policing incident (attack on Hindu girls and Muslim boys who were seen talking at a park), a few days ago in Udupi.

The SI is believed to have taken the statement of the girl but did not file an FIR. Those involved in the assault are said to have downloaded the girl's photo from FB and circulated it on social media but the SI allegedly failed to take any action. The suspension has now taken  political color with MLA Raghupathi Bhat defending the suspended SI and constable and condemning the suspension.

"Suspending the sub-inspector due to pressure from somebody is not correct. I have spoken to the Home Minister about this. I will also ask the SP to withdraw the suspension and repost him," the source said.

Former MLA and Congress leader Pramod Madhwaraj too backed Mr Bhat saying, “I support your stand. The town SI was  posted to Udupi during my tenure and I have spoken to the higher ups in the home dept to revoke his suspension.He is quite a good police official," Pramod said reacting to Raghupathi Bhat's tweet.