SI's death: Minister G Parameshwara announces Rs 50 lakh ex-gratia, govt job to wife
Koppal (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh and a government job to the wife of a police sub-inspector, who died under suspicious circumstances on August 4.
Parameshwara on Wednesday ruled out a CBI investigation, saying that a CID probe was enough into the death of the SI, Parashuram.
Yadgir Congress MLA Channareddy Tannur and his son Pampanagouda Tannur have been booked on a complaint by Parashuram's wife Shwetha N V that they were responsible for his death as they had allegedly got her husband transferred within seven months of his getting a posting.
She accused Reddy and his son of demanding Rs 30 lakh from her husband if he wished to continue in the same place. Due to the demand, Parashuram was depressed and died by suicide, she alleged.
The Home Minister visited the bereaved family in Somanal village in Koppal district and consoled them.
Later, speaking to reporters Parameshwara expressed his grief over the death of the policeman.
"We cannot bring him back but it is my duty to console the family. It is a loss to me as well. He was an honest officer from the Dalit community who came up after a lot of struggle," the minister said.
He said the government has taken this case seriously.
"We have offered his wife, who is an engineering graduate in Electrical stream, in our department but she has asked for a job in the Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (GESCOM). I will discuss this with the Chief Minister...," Parameshwara said.
"Our department and the state government have decided to give Rs 50 lakh to the family as a special grant," he added.
He dismissed the demand for a CBI probe.
"We will not give this case to the CBI. We will give them (SI's family) justice, which is their demand," the minister said.
Action will be taken against the accused based on the inquiry report, he said.
Parameshwara insisted that transfers don't happen in the police department by taking money.
According to the minister, a law is already in place that mandates transfers only after two years of the posting. If anyone gets transferred then they have the option to approach the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) and get a stay, he explained.
With regard to Parashuram, the Minister said he was transferred within seven months of getting a posting.
Transfers of sub-inspectors falls under the jurisdiction of the Inspector General of Police and not the State government, he said.
"The CID will investigate why the IG transferred him before two years were completed," he added.
The SI's death has taken a political turn with the BJP and JD(S) levelling allegations against the Congress government for taking the lives of sincere officers belonging to the SC/ ST community.
They said barely three months ago, the Accounts Superintendent in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Chandrasekharan P died by suicide.
In his suicide note, Chandrasekharan alleged that there was an illegal transfer of Rs 187 crore of the Corporation including Rs 89 crore to bank accounts of several individuals in Hyderabad.
Former Tribal Welfare Minister B Nagendra, who resigned following Chandrasekharan's death, is in jail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.
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Karnataka caste census report likely to be placed before cabinet on Jan 16
Bengaluru (PTI): With the Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, popularly known as the 'caste census,' likely to be placed before the state cabinet on January 16, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara stressed that its contents should be made public.
He said, any decision based on the report is the prerogative of the government and it will be taken after analysing it.
Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes under its then Chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde had submitted the report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on February 29 last year, amid objections raised by certain sections of society and voices against it from within ruling Congress.
"It was decided the sealed cover (of report) will be opened before the cabinet, otherwise it may lead to leakage of information....whether there will be a discussion on it or not, I cannot speak about it now, once opened at least abstract information will be known to us," Parameshwara told reporters here replying to a question.
To a question on the opposition from certain dominant sections to the report and implementation of its recommendations, he said, the government has got the report after spending Rs 160 crore tax payers money, it should at least be made public, taking action based on it is secondary.
"Taking action based on it is left to the discretion of the government, the government will ultimately decide. But at least the information from the report that was prepared by spending Rs 160 crore, should come out. So there is a demand that what is there in the report be made public," he added.
What is happening now is bringing out the information from the report, the Home Minister said.
Karnataka's two dominant communities -- Vokkaliags and Lingayats -- have expressed reservations about the survey done, calling it "unscientific", and have demanded that it be rejected and a fresh survey be conducted.
The commission headed by Jayaprakash Hegde had said that the report was prepared based on data collected by 1.6 lakh officials, including 1.33 lakh teachers under the leadership of respective Deputy Commissioners of the districts across the state.
The then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government (2013-2018) had in 2015 commissioned the survey in the state.
The state Backward Classes Commission under its then chairperson Kantharaju was tasked with preparing a caste census report. The survey work was completed in 2018, towards the end of Siddaramaiah's first tenure as Chief Minister. The findings of the survey in the form of a report never came out in public thereafter.
With strong disapproval from the two politically influential communities the survey report may turn out to be a political hot potato for the government, as it may set the stage for a confrontation, with Dalits and OBCs among others demanding for it to be made public.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, and a Vokkaliga, was a signatory, along with a couple of other ministers, to a memorandum submitted by the community to the chief minister earlier, requesting that the report and the data be rejected.
All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, the apex body of Veerashaiva-Lingayats, which has also expressed its disapproval vis-a-vis the survey and demanded conduct of a fresh survey, is headed by veteran Congress leader and MLA Shamanuru Shivashankarappa. Several Lingayat ministers and MLAs too have raised objections.
According to some reports, findings of the survey are allegedly contrary to the "traditional perception" with regard to the numerical strength of various castes in Karnataka, especially Lingayats and Vokkaligas, making it a politically sticky issue.
