Madhukar Shetty to be cremated today

The last rites of 1999 batch IPS officer Madhukar Shetty, who died in a hospital in Hyderabad on Friday, will be held at Rai Farm House in Yadadi-Matyadi village, Kundapur taluk, on Sunday.

Hundreds of people and his well wishers have been visiting the farm house since Saturday morning. The arrangements have been made for the cremation by district administration and the Police Department. Udupi Superintendent of Police Laxman Nimbargi and DySP B P Dinesh Kumar visited the farm house and supervised the arrangements.

Betta Shetty, who looks after the plantations in the farm house, said, “Madhukar Shetty Anna had called me on December 14 and had promised to visit the village next month. He had asked me to take care of the arecanut trees and water them regularly. I am not able to accept the fact that ‘Anna’ is no more,” he said fighting back his tears.

The farm house was owned by Madhukar Shetty’s father Vaddarse Raghuram Shetty. Madhukar Shetty used to visit the farm house during holidays and sit silently in front of the tombs of his parents. Recalling his association with Madhukar Shetty, Betta Shetty said, “Anna used to take care of the plants in the plantation like his own children. He was not arrogant. He would clean the arecanut trees himself.”

In the farm house, spread across two acres, besides arecanut, pepper and banana are cultivated as mixed crop.

“I used to take care of the garden in the SP office at Chamarajanagara. Appreciating my work, he got me shifted to Kundapur. I have been looking after this plantation since 2003,” Betta Shetty said.

Anna used to relish “Naati Koli Saru,” and “Oad Dose.” During his previous visit he had asked us to prepare the same dishes. Anna would pay us whenever he visited us. In fact, Anna’s pet ‘Gunda’ had stopped him by pulling his trousers,” he recalled.

Public viewing

Mangaluru Police Commissionerate had made arrangements for public viewing of the body of Madhukar Shetty at Mangaluru International Airport on Saturday night.

Mangaluru Commissioner of Police T R Suresh also had directed Mangalore International Airport (MIA) not to collect parking fee from those visiting the Airport in order have a final glimpse of one of the most respected police officer.