Bengaluru: This cop has obviously gone too much with the flow. The Attibele police sub-inspector, T.R. Srinivas, and his uniformed men on Sunday night allegedly flung stones and damaged at least 10 Tamil Nadu registration vehicles, like any other lawbreakers, near Attibele, the volatile border post that has been on the boil since the Cauvery dispute erupted between the two states. The reason for the rage was apparently to avenge the humiliation of the SI and his men at the hands of Tamil Nadu police officers when they ventured deep into the Tamil Nadu border in pursuit of a murder suspect.
The SI and his team were allegedly harassed and reprimanded by the Mathigiri and the Cisco police, who caught them going around in a Karnataka-registration vehicle in sensitive areas of Tamil Nadu.
SI Srinivas and his men, who were investigating a murder, had gone in search of a suspect in Palur, areas of which fall under the Attibele police limits.
The cops were in plainclothes and apparently did not carry their ID cards. When the Tamil Nadu police stopped their vehicle, the Karnataka team tried to reason, but the head constable attached to the Mathigiri station kept reprimanding Srinivas and his team. He brought this to the notice of his circle inspector, who despite getting a confirmation that Srinivas was a police officer, spoke to Srinivas and his men rudely.
“SI Srinivas and his men while returning to Attibele indulged in vandalism and damaged at least 10 lorries on Sunday night. I was told they wanted to vent their anger against the TN police,” said Mr M.R. Kumaraswamy, president, Tamil Nadu State Lorry Federation.
However, SI Srinivas told Deccan Chronicle, "It was true that the Tamil Nadu police harassed us when we entered Palur. They stopped us and spoke to us rudely as we did not carry our ID cards. They would not let us proceed further and asked us to go back. This made a few of our men angry and when they reached Attibele, they only diverted a few lorries from entering Karnataka. They did not resort to any vandalism."
He went on to allege, "We have information that the TN police in Mathigiri collect Rs 1,000 from each Karnataka registration lorry at the TVS Cross to let them through."
The faceoff has led to officers, on both sides of the border, being shifted to other postings. Sources said that a senior police officer from the Mathigiri station has been transferred, while SI Srinivas has been temporarily asked to take up a posting at the SP's office.
