Karnataka: MLA helped inspector retain posting

Bengaluru: Vijaynagar police inspector Sanjeev Gowda was recently placed under suspension after the broad daylight murder of realtor Mahesh at a well-known coffee cafe in Vijayanagar in the third week of June. But according to highly placed sources, the police under alleged pressure from a local MLA not only had to revoke his suspension but also had to post him back in the same police station.

“Where is the question of discipline or fear of punishment in such cases, when there is a nexus between the elected representatives and cops? The transfer list of unit officers is reportedly dictated by the politicians, though the state police have set up a Police Establishment Board (PEB) under the direction of the Supreme Court for effecting transfers of sub-inspectors, inspectors and deputy superintendents of police. The PEB has hardly met and there has been a spate of transfers of inspectors and DySPs in the recent past,” said an officer on condition of anonymity. He said that taking disciplinary action against errant officers has also become a huge challenge for supervisory officers because of the political interest and interference in the police department.

The PEB was constituted under the SC guidelines of 2006 on police reforms. The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2012 specifies that only the PEB, which is headed by the head of police force – the DG&IGP, and comprises three senior officers of the rank of additional director general of police is empowered to decide on the postings of DySPs/ACPs and its below rank officers. “But the “notorious ‘minute meetings’ between the legislators and cops reportedly set the terms of postings and transfers of police officers,” the officer said.

The recent spate of incidents; from the resignation of former DySP, Kudligi, Anupama Shenoy to the suicides of two DySPs – Kalappa Handibag and M.K. Ganapati – have raised serious questions on the administration of the police department.