Involvement of migrant labourers in crimes: Karnataka Home Minister to discuss with labour department

Bengaluru: Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Monday said he would hold a combined meeting of Home and Labour Departments along with Labour Minister Santosh Lad on measures that can be taken regarding the increasing number of crimes involving migrant labourers from other states.

He said workforce coming to Karnataka from other states cannot be stopped, but there is a definite need to take note of criminal activities involving them and take measures against it.

The Home Minister's statement came in the wake of alleged kidnapping and murder of a five-year-old girl in Hubballi by a 35-year-old Ritesh Kumar, who hails from Bihar's Patna, who was killed in a police firing on Sunday.

"Labourers are coming from different parts of the country as Bengaluru is a fast developing city and also across Karnataka. In many cases we see they are involved in criminal activities. We definitely need to take note of this," Parameshwara said in response to a question that people coming from other parts of the country are more involved in such crimes.

Speaking to reporters, he said, "I would discuss with the Labour Minister and officers concerned, and see what we can do. We cannot stop the labour force coming from different states, but we can take some measures. I will discuss it with the Labour Minister. We will have a combined meeting (of the home and labour departments) on measures that can be taken."

Calling the kidnapping and killing of a five-year-old girl in Hubballi on Sunday by a man from Bihar as a "ghastly incident", the Home Minister said the police had secured the accused with in no time, and when he was taken to a place where he lived to gather evidence, he attacked the police all of a sudden, and to safeguard themselves naturally police fired on him and he died on the way to hospital.

"I have ordered for an investigation by a senior official for the facts to come out. Let the report come," he said.

Regarding the arrest of a suspect in connection with the molestation of a woman at Suddaguntepalya here earlier this month, Parameshwara said he has been secured in Kerala, and is being brought to Bengaluru, and further investigations will follow.

After a weeklong manhunt, the city police on Sunday said, they have tracked down a 29-year-old man named Santosh D, a resident from Gulbarga Colony near Tilaknagar, who allegedly molested a college student walking on the streets of Suddaguntepalya on April 3, from Kerala's Kozhikode.

According to police, the suspect worked as a driver at an automobile showroom near Brookefield.

The incident occurred on April 3 at 1.55 am and the CCTV footage of the alleged incident had gone viral.

When two women were walking on the street, a man, whose face was not visible, groped one of them and tried to harass her. He immediately fled the scene when the women screamed for help.