Karnataka HC lashed out at police department for going soft on one of their own constables, who was allegedly involved in robberies and dacoity cases. The court on Monday called for action against the accused constable.
According to the Bangalore Mirror report, Krishna Murthy, a constable who worked in the Madanayakanahalli police station till 2015, allegedly directed a gang of six dacoits to commit three serial armed robberies and shared the spoils.
While the gang members had three criminal cases filed against them, the constable was let off with a small departmental enquiry.
The HC said, “… a suitable criminal action to be taken against the policeman about whom startling information has come about in this petition and by another accused.”
The constable was tipped off on Monday by one of the six gang members, Seshadri who had applied for bail.
Seshadri’s bail petition in the lower court had been rejected earlier.
BM quoted Justice AV Chandrashekara saying: “By and large police officers and officials work very hard day and night. One or two black sheep of this nature bring disrespect and disrepute to honest police officers. Persons of this nature should be dealt with seriously. No stone should be left unturned to take all necessary action against such police officers.”
During hearing of the case, the HC noticed in Seshadri's statement in the remand application had revealed that the constable let on bail in an old case in 2015.
According to the statement, Seshadri and five others were contacted by Krishna Murthy who worked in the Madanayakanahalli police station after his release in 2015, to commit armed robbery and crime. They abducted one person from near Channadasipalya and Lakkuppe village and managed obtain a ransom of Rs 1.2 lakh. They later assaulted a few people sitting in `layout office' and took away Rs. 35,000 and six mobile phones. The third one was in Tavrekere where the gang was allegedly directed to a house of a woman by Krishna Murthy and his brother Jayaram. They robbed a gold chain from her, reported BM.
The court noted that according to government advocate a department inquiry was set up against Murthy and he was suspended, however, not for long. His suspension was reportedly revoked and he was transferred to Sulibele police station.
“The very information of the police submitted to JMFC discloses that one of their police constables and his brother were hand-in-glove with the accused. Though there was a departmental inquiry, no criminal action was initiated,” said the court.