Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, May 14: Bajpe police station sub-inspector (SI), Pramod Kumar, has been in the eye of storm of late, because of his ruthless action against anti-social elements and illegal quarries. The fact that he was sent on leave on the eve of gram panchayat election, staging of protest by Congress leaders against this action, and his eventual transfer to the district special branch were also widely covered by the media. It has now come to light that local MP, Nalin Kumar Kateel, had sent a complaint to the state Human Rights Commission (SHRC) against the said SI on May 3 this year.
In the letter, Kateel had alleged that Pramod had committed atrocities on citizens, apart from abusing and assaulting a well-known engineer, about which the Builders Association had complained to him. “On his transfer to Bajpe, he assaulted a journalist named Rahim Ujire, and the media men had sent a complaint on this incident. Four students identified with Bajrang Dal were arrested by him in a frivolous case. When taluk panchayat member, Shivappa Bangera visited the police station to enquire about these arrests, he made derogatory remarks against Bangera and threatened to assault him. Locals had staged protest against his excesses, but he has marked the leaders of the protestors, and has been registering false cases against him. His arrest of innocent people is putting the government in an awkward position,” he alleged in the letter.
The above SI has been posted to the office of the district superintendent of police now. The SHRC has asked the city commissioner, Seemanth Kumar Singh, to conduct an inquiry and file replies to these allegations within 15 days.
Kateel knows that he had not been elected as an MP when the alleged assault on Dharmaraj had happened. He is also aware that an investigation report by the deputy commissioner of police about the case of assault on journalist has exonerated Pramod Kumar of the charges. Allegedly, Kateel has turned angry at the SI because of the fact that the latter had raided the stone quarry being run by the MP’s brother-in-law and booked a case against him, and also because of the fact that the MP’s close aide and rowdy-sheeter, Eshwar Kateel, was paraded by him along with other rowdies through the streets of Bajpe recently.