Police order dept inquiry into bar brawl, shooting

Suspects' kin insist police firing 'staged'; SHRC takes up suo motu case

The City police have announced a departmental inquiry into Tuesday night’s brawl at a bar in Mahalakshmi Layout and the shootout that followed.

The suspects’ families have again insisted that the police firing was “fake”, even as the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) took up a suo motu case.

The inquiry will be headed by A S Ghori, ACP (Malleswaram), and K Ravi, Inspector, Rajarajeshwari Nagar police station, will be a member. The two-member team has been formed following allegations that the police shootout was “staged”. It will submit the report within a week, Commissioner of Police B G Jyothiprakash Mirji told reporters here on Thursday. Action will be taken if the report indicted any police officer, he added.

Meanwhile, the SHRC booked a suo motu case on Thursday. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), SHRC, has been asked to investigate the matter and submit a report within a month, the Commission’s member, C G Hungund, told Deccan Herald. The case would be heard again on August 14, he added.

S R Raghavendra, Inspector, Mahalakshmi Layout police station —  one of the two officers involved in the shootout and also the complainant in the case — said that he was yet to receive any official communication on the inquiry against him. But he was ready to face any probe and would come out clean, he added.

In the meantime, Ravi N and Anjan Kumar who were injured in the alleged shootout were operated upon at the K C General Hospital. Both are in police custody but their families were allowed to meet them. Police had denied the meeting on Wednesday, leading to protests by the families.

Ravi’s father Nagendra Rao, who has retired from a central intelligence agency, said the bullet in his son’s left ankle had been removed. As for Kumar, pieces of the bullet which were stuck his right thigh were removed, a source said. Both Ravi and Kumar are stable.

Ravi’s account of events

According to Rao, Ravi insisted that he was “forced” to open fire from his licensed revolver after he was beaten up by about ten men. He, Kumar and the third unidentified men had a bitter quarrel with the bar staff, which soon turned into a brawl.

Ravi didn’t intend to fire but couldn’t control himself in the melee and the bullet from his revolver hit the bar’s cashier, Neelaiah, Rao quoted his son as saying. The bar staff held Ravi and Kumar until the police arrived and took them to the Mahalakshmi police station, Rao further said, quoting his son.

What happened thereafter was a “nightmare” for Ravi, Rao claimed. Both suspects were taken to the police station where they were stripped and remained in that condition for two hours. Later, the two officers — Raghavendra and Sampath Kumar, Inspector, Srirampura police station — asked them to dress up and took them away in the police jeep.

Then they were taken to a remote place near Kadalekayi Mandi at RMC Yard and ordered to lay down. “But Ravi protested, saying he was innocent and pleaded with the policemen not to bump him off,” Rao quoted his son as saying.

Fearing that passers-by might notice them, policemen bundled the suspects back into the jeep and drove off, Ravi’s father added. Then they reached another remote place near Garden Bar in J C Nagar. The policemen returned Ravi his revolver and asked him to show how he had shot at the bar cashier.

But when Ravi refused to take the weapon, one of the policemen became enraged and dragged him to a nearby compound wall where he pinned his hands and shot him in the legs. The other policeman shot at Kumar. The suspects were then taken to the hospital, Rao claimed.