Red Sanders seizure: Cops in coverup?

NT Correspondent

A departmental inquiry has been ordered against police officials attached to Rammurthy Nagar police station in Bengaluru following allegations of dereliction of duty in registering a Red Sanders smuggling case.

The inquiry was initiated after a Vijinapura resident filed a complaint on March 16 and shared videos of Red Sanders stored at the police station. The recovery was made by a police team on October 23 last year led by two sub-inspectors of Rammurthy Nagar police station who recovered 750 kg of Red Sanders worth Rs 80 lakh from Venoor forest near Belthangady. The complaint says the Red Sanders was brought to the station without informing the local police.

Following this, Bengaluru Commissioner of Police Kamal Pant directed the DCP, East, Dr Bheemashankar S Guled to carry out a detailed probe into the case.

Allegedly on October 23 last year, a team of police officials along with two sub-inspectors attached to Rammurthy Nagar police station had recovered 750 kg of Red Sanders worth Rs 80 lakh from Venoor forest area near Belthangady taluk.

The complainant further alleged that the officers brought the recovered Red Sanders to Ramamurthy Na g ar police station without informing the local police about the incident.

However, a detailed rep o r t o n t h e c a s e i s awaited.

Allegation denied Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), Dr Bheemashankar S Guled has said that the allegation against the Rammurthy Nagar police officials trying to cover the case is false.

Speaking to the media, he said that the cops were alerted about illegal activities taking place in the area involving a gang of ganja smugglers. “But when the team raided the place at Venoor, they found 16 logs of Red Sanders, weighing 165 kg, instead of ganja,” he said.

Further he said that the logs were brought to the police station and the officials have duly noted about it in the police diary. “The incident was brought to the notice of the senior police off i c i a l s a n d a F i r s t Information Report (FIR) was registered after two days of the incident,” the DCP said.

However, Guled also said that following the allegations, a departmental inquiry has been initiated. The results of the findings will soon be briefed by the City Commissioner of Police.