Routine investigation severely hampered

By K. V. Subramanya

BANGALORE, SEPT. 3. Routine investigation of criminal cases by the Bangalore City Police has been severely hampered after the abduction of the Kannada matinee idol, Mr. Rajkumar, on July 31.

The violence that broke out after the abduction and the fear psychosis that still grips the city have resulted in the police devoting their entire resources to maintenance of law and order. Thus, investigations have been badly hit in the past one month.

Inspectors and sub-inspectors of police have been directed to stay put in their jurisdictions until the kidnap saga comes to an end. This has handicapped the investigating officers from visiting other places in connection with probes, mainly those having inter-district and inter-State links.

A senior police officer told TheHindu that though they had definite clues about the kingpin of the multi-crore fake stamp and stamp paper racket, who is absconding, they were unable to work on them as they were pre-occupied with law and order duty.

``We have not been able to apply our mind and send officers to places where the gang had been operating,'' the officer remarked. ``Though no incidents have been reported from the city after August 3, most of our time and resources are being spent on posting pickets, holding peace committee meetings and instilling confidence in people, mainly linguistic minorities, who still fear that violence may break out after Mr. Rajkumar is released,'' the officer said.

Following the post-abduction developments, it is not only the investigation work that has suffered but also the policemen who have been made to work overtime. They have been told that they cannot go on leave until Mr. Rajkumar is released. Instructions to this effect have been put on notice boards of police stations. Even constables under training at the Police Training School have been deployed for various duties, according to sources.

Meanwhile, sources said that though the cinemas have re-opened in the city after a month, police have ``unofficially'' requested the theatre owners not to screen Tamil films for sometime as some Kannada organisations may take objection to it, and this may cause law and order problems. However, the cinemas are running the shows as usual though prohibitory orders clamped under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code are in force till September 9.

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Section  : Southern States
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