IAS officer's wife arrested for assaulting woman cop

Twenty-four hours after she allegedly slapped a police inspector on duty at the KSCA celebrity cricket match on Sunday night, Anuja, wife of IAS officer Pankaj Kumar Pandey, was arrested by the Cubbon Park police here.

Around 9:15 pm on Monday, Anuja was produced in front of the 8th ACCM Magistrate Kiran Kini’s residence at Koramangala Games Village here. She has secured an interim bail till February 6.

Anuja is alleged to have abused and assaulted Anjumala T Naik, police inspector at Ulsoor Gate women’s police station.

In her complaint, the inspector said Anuja, who was in an inebriated state, tried to throw her weight to enter the stadium through the G1 VIP gate and managed to get in. While exiting from the stadium, she abused and assaulted the inspector, according to the complaint.

A case was registered under IPC 353 –– cognizable offence (assault, deterring or preventing a public servant from discharging duty). Efforts to contact Pandey, Managing Director of Hubli Electricity Supply Company, went in vain.

The delay in arresting Anuja was due to none of the senior officers being prepared to name her, despite the episode being recorded on CCTV camera.

It was only after 2:20 pm that four teams were formed under the leadership of Cubbon Park Assistant Commissioner of Police D Devaraj. The teams fanned out to HSR Layout, Airport, Koramangala and other places.

Acting on a tip from a driver, who dropped Anuja the previous night, the IAS officer’s wife was arrested at the house of a businessman in Koramangala.