KSRP cops take to streets in Mysore

Personnel of the KSRP, attached to the fifth battalion, staged a roadblock in various parts in the State on Thursday.

The staff staged a flash protest in front of their office near Kurubarahalli Circle, on Lalita Mahal Road, in Mysore, bringing traffic to a screeching halt. 

The protesters, both men and women, raised slogans in support of Ravindranath, while they decried Raghavendra Auradkar, the Bangalore Police Commissioner, who is accused of hatching a plot to defame the former. Commandant of the battalion S Ramdas Gowda came outside his office and tried to convince them to withdraw the protest. He was joined by Nazarbad police and they succeeded in convincing them to give up the stir.

Earlier in the day, members of the Dalita Hindulidavara Alpasankhyatara Samanvaya Vedike staged a sit-in at Gandhi Square, in support of Ravindranath. 

In Mandya, members of progressive organisations staged a protest in support of Ravindranath and demanded that police officials behind the allegations must be arrested.

The protesters said that  ADGP Ravindranath was an honest officer and that the controversy was aimed at tarnishing his image. 

 In Hassan, staff of the KSRP’s 11th battalion staged a protest and demanded cancellation of the transfer of ADGP Ravindranath.

‘No law and order in State,’Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar in Belgaum alleged that the administrative machinery and law and order have collapsed in the State. 

The controversy over KSRP Additional Director General of Police Ravindranath allegedly clicking pictures of a woman on his cellphone and the government not making known as to whose bullet killed police sub-inspector Mallikarjun Bande were indications of the state of affairs, the former chief minister said.

Shettar told reporters on Thursday that this was the first time in the history of the State that police personnel were taking to the streets. They were not showing respect to their higher-ups. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister K J George are responsible for the episode, he said. 

Despite repeated demands, the government has not made known as to how Bande died in an encounter in Gulbarga. People should know about the inquiry, he said. 

In Gulbarga

The constabulary and officers of the 6th Battalion of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) on Thursday held a demonstration in protest against the alleged harassment of their ADGP Dr P Ravindranath and urged the government to withdraw the case booked against him.

Enraged over the ‘victimisation’ of who they called an honest and upright officer, the KSRP personnel in uniform held a dharna on their campus at Taj Sultanpur on the outskirts of the city. 

KSRP commandant Parameshwarappa said that it was a symbolic protest to express solidarity with the ADGP. The staff also protested against the transfer of Ravindranath and demanded that he be retained as the ADGP of KSRP.