CRPF seeks Karnataka DGP's intervention to probe 'manhandling, handcuffing' of commando by cops
New Delhi: The CRPF has taken up the "unpleasant" case of alleged manhandling and handcuffing of one of its CoBRA commandos by Karnataka police personnel with the DGP of the southern state and sent a team to follow-up on the matter, officials said on Monday.
The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) specialises in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare.
The CRPF has written a letter to Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) Praveen Sood, stating that the "unpleasant situation could have been avoided had the state police taken the CRPF hierarchy into confidence before making the arrest" of the jawan on April 23 in Belagavi district.
The CRPF is mulling to file "a counter FIR against the atrocious action of the police" against the jawan, a senior officer of the paramilitary force told PTI.
The official Twitter handle of the Karnataka DGP posted an update in the matter in the evening.
"IGP Belagavi has been asked to enquire into incident involving CRPF constable. Action will be taken against guilty after receipt of report," it said.
The CRPF letter said commando Sachin Savant was "manhandled, ill-treated, paraded to the police station barefooted, kept in chains and handcuffs" by police personnel on COVID-19 lockdown duty in Examba village of the district.
In a video shot from a distance by a local on a mobile phone, it is seen the mufti-wearing commando and two policemen getting into an altercation, and subsequently, throwing blows at each other.
The CoBRA commando was on leave at his home town.
According to the CRPF, the state police informed them that Savant was outside his home for washing his two-wheeler and "was not wearing a mask", and the police personnel on duty asked him why he was not wearing a face mask.
The police report said the commando "started the altercation" with the beat constable and another policeman accompanying him, and "assaulted" them.
CRPF officials countered the version, saying the jawan informed the policemen that he was not wearing the mask as he was just outside his home.
The incident has led to resentment among officials of the paramilitary force, who have demanded a fair probe in the case and sought the intervention of the CRPF brass.
"We have taken up the case with the police chief of Karnataka. His (Savant) bail plea will be taken up by a court on Tuesday and the CRPF too shall be in court through its local officers. Thereafter, the investigation shall be followed up to take it to a logical conclusion," CRPF spokesperson Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Moses Dhinakaran said.
The CRPF has stated in the letter to the DGP that after a scrutiny of the video, "it is apparent that the conduct of the police personnel was not citizen-centric".
The letter, written by a special director general-rank officer at the behest of CRPF chief A P Maheshwari, requested the DGP to get the matter inquired and "provide justice to the jawan", keeping in mind the gravity of the incident and its "impact on the relationship between the two forces".
It said the CRPF is a force "with high standards of discipline and it has an institutional mechanism for taking care of such situations".
The commando told the police that he was also a cop like them and aware of his responsibilities. He then agreed to go back to his house and ended the argument. But then, the police personnel pushed him and rained "lathi" blows on him, leading to the altercation between the two sides, CRPF officials alleged.
The police report said the commando was arrested under sections of the IPC and Epidemic Diseases Act and is in judicial custody at the local Sadalga police station.
A photograph that has gone viral on social media and which is also available with CRPF authorities, shows a handcuffed Savant squatting in a place that is claimed to be the local police station.
"Is this the way to treat a commando of a uniformed force? The jawan was treated like a dreaded criminal by putting handcuff and chain, which are in any case disallowed to be put on a person," a senior CRPF official said.
The commando is posted with the 207th battalion of the CoBRA. His unit is presently deployed on anti-Naxal operations in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
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Four of family found dead in Maharashtra’s Nanded district in suspected mass suicide
Nanded (PTI): A farmer, his wife and their two sons were found dead in two different locations in Maharashtra’s Nanded district on Thursday morning, in what police suspect to be a mass suicide, an official said.
Around 8 am, the bodies of Ramesh Sonaji Lakhe (51) and his wife Radhabai Lakhe (45) were discovered on a cot in their home at Jawala Murar village in Mudkhed tehsil, he said.
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The bodies of their sons, Umesh (25) and Bajrang (23), were subsequently found on nearby railway lines. It appears they jumped in front of a speeding train, the official said.
Police inspector Dattatray Manthale told reporters, “The parents were found dead inside their home, while the sons took their lives on the railway tracks. We have asked a Forensic Science Laboratory team to collect evidence. The truth will come out only after a thorough technical investigation and autopsy.”
While the nature of their death appears to be part of a suicide pact, police said the exact circumstances remain unclear.
The family belonged to the small-scale farming community, but it is not yet confirmed if financial distress or a domestic crisis triggered the extreme step, the official said.
Neighbours described the Lakhes as a hardworking family who struggled against the odds of small-land farming to sustain themselves.
The Nanded rural police are recording statements of relatives and checking for notes or final messages left by the family.
