Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday warned senior police officers against joining hands with anti-social elements and mafia besides directing them to crackdown on people who create communal tension.  

Addressing senior police officers during a review meeting held at the State Police Headquarters here, Kumaraswamy congratulated the Police department for its thorough investigation in the killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh. He assured full support to the SIT and urged it to take the investigation to its logical end. 

Kumaraswamy warned the then IGP (Northern Range), Ramachandra Rao, on the encounter killing of notorious sharpshooter and supari killer Dharamraj Chadachan (35) at Konkanagaon village in Indi taluk of Vijayapura district in October 2017. 

Kumaraswamy directed senior officers to take action against anti-social elements who create communal violence. “Till I am in the chief minister’s post, I don’t want any communal violence in the state,” he stated.

He said whoever make derogatory statements and provoke people in the name of religion will be booked under law.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who holds the Home poprtfolio, told reporters that in the past five years government has recruited more than 30,000 police constables and sub-inspectors and, still 14,000 posts of police constables are vacant. All these vacant posts and future vacccancies will be filled in stages, he added.

He said senior officers would be held responsible for whatever happens in their jurisdiction.  This helps the crimes to come down at the grassroots level, he observed.