Kharge denies intelligence failure

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, OCT. 14. The Home Minister, Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, has claimed that the Mumbai police would not have been able to nab those who were allegedly conspiring to assassinate the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, if the State's intelligence officers had not assisted them.

Mr. Kharge was refuting the allegation by the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Mr. Jagadish Shettar, that the intelligence wing of the police had failed to unearth the threat to Mr. Advani's life.

Mr. Kharge, who was participating in a ``meet the press'' programme organised by the Press Club of Bangalore, said the Government could not reveal the intelligence report on the threat to Mr. Advani's life. Maintaining that the Government too could highlight the failure of the Central intelligence agencies, he noted that it was the State police which arrested a Defence personnel, who was a member of the Deendar Channabasaveshwara Sena, in connection with the church blasts in the State. The Centre was unaware of his anti-national activities.

He could also point out that the Central agencies failed to anticipate the suicide bomb attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature complex. It was for the Central agencies to work in coordination with their counterparts in the State. The State police should be appreciated for protecting national security by arresting the Deendar members. Mr. Kharge said the arrest of the culprits responsible for the church blasts was a major achievement of the State police in the last two years. It had succeeded in getting one of the accused in the Asnotikar murder case (Asnotikar was the former Congress MLA from Karwar) extradited from a Gulf country.

On the non-extradition of the underworld don, Muthappa Rai, he said this could be done if there was a specific complaint against him. There was an extradition treaty with the country where he was hiding or operating.

The High Court had agreed to the setting up of a special court for the trial of the accused in the church blasts. Another special court would be set up to try the members of the Dandupalya gang which was responsible for several murders. Ninety per cent of the members of the gang had been nabbed.

Mr. Kharge agreed that police could not nab the forest brigand Veerappan. But no deal was struck with him to secure the release of the Kannada film star, Mr. Rajkumar, he said and denied that the Government was preventing the former Director- General and Inspector-General of Police, Mr. C. Dinakar, from revealing facts about the kidnap episode by invoking the Official Secrets Act.

Mr. Kharge also denied that Congress MLAs and some of his ministerial colleagues were interfering in the postings of police personnel. However, he said, in a democracy, the views of the representatives of the people had to be considered.

He said that 4,065 police constables would be recruited. Of them, 1505 would be posted to stations in Bangalore. The number of vacancies in the constabulary was over 6,000. The minimum educational qualification for appointment of constables was pre- university as against SSLC in the past. For Fire Force personnel, this had been raised to SSLC from seventh standard.

Those making criticisms on law and order front should appreciate the fact that Bangalore was one of the most favoured venues for international conferences. Several VVIPs were visiting the City. A special wing would be created in the City police for their security.

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Section  : Southern States
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