Since IPS officer Om Prakash took charge as Karnataka DGP, several allegations of irregularities have emerged against his son Kartikesh Omprakash and his quarrying business.
The latest controversy is the suicide of a farmer in Karnataka’s Ramnagara district. 60-year-old farmer Shivanna consumed poison on August 21 in Gavinagamandala village. He alleged before dying that Kartikesh and other police were responsible for his decision to take his own life.
In a video shot before his death, Shivanna alleged that his uncle Lokesh assaulted him over a property dispute. Shivanna said that Kartikesh had sided with Lokesh and others who were threatening his family.
In May, a woman named Sadhana Rajalakshmi claimed that she had been in a relationship with Om Prakash for the past five years. She alleged that Kartikesh and his friend Ravishankar were threatening her against speaking about it.
Sadhana had also alleged that she had two sites in her name and that Kartikesh and Ravishankar were threatening her because they wanted her to sell it to them.
She was jailed amid these allegations after her own lawyer filed a case against her under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocity) Act. She spent a day in Ramanagara jail, and three days in a Mandya jail.
Other allegations
Complaints against Kartikesh’s business were reported as early as 2015 when the Lokayukta scam emerged.
Karhikesh owns the Magadi Quarry and Crusher in Hanchikuppe village along with Mamatha, sister of Narasimha Murthy who was accused in the Lokayukta bribery scam involving the then Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao.
Kartikesh had applied for a licence for a stone quarrying and crushing unit in Hanchikuppe village in 2009. Subsequently, his firm was issued mining License (Number 1354) and around five acres of gomala land in the village were allotted for the unit by the government and the unit was set up in 2011.
However, Magadi Tahsildar had submitted a report saying the unit fell within 500 meters of a residential area, hence quarrying was not permissible under Karnataka Regulation of Stone Crushers Act, 2011.
The quarry is surrounded by eight villages including, Hunchikuppe, Matta, Veeregoudanadoddi, Maregoudandoddi, Ramakalpalya, Attingere. Some of the villagers objected, alleging that it was against the law to set up a quarrying unit in the prescribed safe zone.
In 2013, the Ramanagara Deputy Collector relaxed certain conditions regarding the safe zone in the Karnataka Regulation of Stone Crushers Act, 2011. That very day, the KSPCB also issued a safe zone certificate to the land on which the quarry stood. Loksatta Party questioned the timing of clearances, alleging that Om Prakash used his influence to fast-track this process.