CM Siddaramaiah raising hand left me shocked, family disturbed: ASP Baramani stands by VRS request
Bengaluru: Additional Superintendent of Police Narayan Baramani has reportedly clarified that his request for voluntary retirement from service (VRS) still stands and is currently under review by the Home Department, following a controversial incident involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during a Congress protest rally in Belagavi.
“I have not withdrawn my request. If the government approves it, I will proceed with voluntary retirement. If it is rejected, I will decide on my future course of action,” Deccan Herald quoted Baramani as saying.
Baramani had submitted his VRS request about a month ago, citing humiliation and mental distress following a public confrontation with the Chief Minister on April 28, when he was on duty in Belagavi after being deputed from Dharwad.
In a detailed three-page letter addressed to the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Home Affairs (Police Services), Baramani recounted that during the rally, a group of women had shown black flags and raised slogans while CM Siddaramaiah was speaking. The Chief Minister reportedly stopped mid-speech, pointed at Baramani and shouted, “Hey! Who’s the SP here? Come here!” When Baramani went up the stage, Siddaramaiah allegedly raised his hand in a sudden gesture but withdrew it immediately.
“My entire family has been mentally disturbed ever since. Despite this, neither the chief minister nor any other government official on his behalf, nor even senior officials from our own department, made any effort to console or address the issue. Even my colleagues did not condemn the insult I faced,” he said.
“I have been publicly humiliated and blamed for something I did not do. Left with no other option, I am submitting this request for voluntary retirement. I humbly request that it be accepted,” the letter, cited by DH, reads.
Following his VRS submission, both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G. Parameshwara summoned Baramani to Bengaluru, urging him to reconsider his decision and requesting him not to proceed with the VRS.
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Plea about 'threat' to Rahul Gandhi filed without his consent, to be withdrawn: Lawyer
Pune, Aug 13 (PTI): Hours after filing a plea in a court here claiming apprehension of threat to Rahul Gandhi from the followers of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the Congress leader's lawyer on Wednesday said it was filed without Gandhi's consent, and would be withdrawn.
He will submit another application on Thursday to withdraw the `Pursis' or the application filed before Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde, said Advocate Milind Pawar.
Pawar is representing Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed by Satyaki Savarkar, grand-nephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, over certain statements made by the Congress leader against the late freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue.
He drafted the application without consulting Gandhi and the latter has taken a "strong exception to the filing of this Pursis and expressed his disagreement with its contents", the lawyer said in a press release late in the evening.
The application filed by advocate Pawar earlier in the day said that complainant Satyaki Savarkar had admitted that he is also a direct descendant, through maternal lineage, of Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse, principal accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhi is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and recently held a press conference in Delhi, placing before the nation evidence of electoral fraud by the Election Commission, the application said.
"Furthermore, during the parliamentary debate on the subject of Hindutva, there was a heated exchange between the Prime Minister and Shri Rahul Gandhi, a matter well known to the public. Against this backdrop, there is little doubt that the complainant, his great-grandfathers (the Godses), those connected with the ideology of Vinayak Savarkar, and some followers of Savarkar who are presently in power, may harbor hostility or resentment towards Gandhi," the application said.
"In light of the documented history of violent and anti-constitutional tendencies linked to the complainant's lineage, and considering the prevailing political climate, there exists a clear, reasonable, and substantial apprehension that Rahul Gandhi may face harm, wrongful implication, or other forms of targeting by persons subscribing to the ideology of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar," the application stated.
The Pune court has already granted bail to Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case. The trial is yet to begin.
Reacting to the development, Advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, Satyaki Savarkar's lawyer, asked why the application was filed in the first place. "This is nothing but an attempt to delay the trial by moving such frivolous pleas," he said.
Satyaki Savarkar has filed a defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi, alleging that in a speech made in London in March 2023, the Congress leader claimed that V D Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy.
No such incident ever took place, and V D Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere, the complaint claimed.
