Cabbie's suicide: Local cops back beleaguered inspector

 The suicide of cab driver Pradeep Kumar Eeranna, the subsequent violence by his relatives and suspension of the inspector of Kempegowda Nagar police station on Saturday are learnt to be taking a political turn. 

Senior police officers are in a fix as Home Minister K J George, Housing Minister M H Ambaeesh and Congress MLA from Chickpet R V Devaraj are under pressure from a section of policemen to protect the SHO, C D Nagaraj, as he is considered an “upright and honest officer.”

 Nagaraj had earned a good reputation when he served in the Lokayukta police wing for five years. 

“Like many other senior officers, I know that Nagaraj is an upright and honest police officer. Senior police officers are also aware of the rift between Nagaraj and the Chamarajpet subdivision ACP, Dawood Khan H G. But Nagaraj failed as an inspector in handling the case,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Alok Kumar told Deccan Herald. 

There was no need for Nagaraj to take Pradeep into custody; he should have registered a case and produced the suspect before court, Alok Kumar said. Nagaraj’s act is tantamount to illegal detention and hence action has been taken against him, he said, adding that top officers had received representations about Nagaraj’s attitude of not registering cases. 

DCP (Southeast) Dr Rohini Katoch Sepat, who heads the departmental inquiry, said that she would submit the report in a couple of days. 

The personnel at K G Nagar police station have stood by the inspector and told the leaders about the issue that actually triggered the violence. They said that a few rowdy-sheeters, who had the apparent backing of a senior officer, had engineered the violence and ensured that action was taken against the inspector. 

According to a source, some people recently met a political leader and sought his support to run a club in KG Nagar. But the leader declined their request. 

Later, they met Khan and mobilised his support. The ACP directed them to meet Nagaraj but the latter gave them a dressing-down and warned against such illegal activities. Khan had a heated argument with Nagaraj over the issue, the source claimed. 

The local police also said that Nagaraj had checked rowdy activities in the area, where some officers were allegedly sympathetic to some of the gangsters. Such elements were close to Bhargava, a close friend of Pradeep. They all hatched a conspiracy and engineered the violence, claimed the local police.