Bengaluru police irked over CID taking over cases
Chandru was killed in JJ Nagar police station limits in the wee hours of Tuesday, last week. The Bengaluru city police commissioner Kamal Pant had called it a case of road rage, however, home minister Araga Jnanendra had claimed that Chandru was killed as he could not speak Urdu, raking up communal tensions.
Days after a 22-year-old man was murdered in JJ Nagar, the investigation into the case is becoming a bone of contention between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bengaluru city police.
A day after the Karnataka government handed over the investigation to the criminal investigation department (CID) on Sunday, senior police officers in the city said on Monday that the BJP is trying to discredit the police officers for political reasons. The BJP leaders had claimed that Bengaluru police were trying to change the case narrative.
Chandru was killed in JJ Nagar police station limits in the wee hours of Tuesday, last week. The Bengaluru city police commissioner Kamal Pant had called it a case of road rage, however, home minister Araga Jnanendra had claimed that Chandru was killed as he could not speak Urdu, raking up communal tensions.
Later, Jnanendra retracted his statement after police briefed him on the investigation, however, some BJP leaders, led by BJP national general secretary CT Ravi, claimed the minister was pressured to change his statement.
A senior IPS officer in the city police, who didn’t want to be named, said that there is an attempt to communalise the incident.“The investigation in the case was quick. The CCTV footage was available and based on some questioning, the police were able to track the suspects within hours,” said the officer.
While the arrest happened around noon, by evening there were some social media posts trying to communalise the issue, said the officer, adding, soon after the posts were shared, an officer was dispatched to probe the allegation that the murder took place as the victim did not speak Urdu. “A senior officer was sent to take a statement from victim’s friend Simon Raj who was with the deceased at the time of the murder. The police took the statement from him all over again and also asked if the murder took place because he couldn’t speak Urdu, and Raj said no,” added the officer.
The Bengaluru police issued a fact check after verifying with eyewitnesses. The officer further added that the suspects, who are in custody, also said that the murder took place over an argument they had after the two bikes collided.At the time of the incident, Chandru and Raj were out in search of food after partying on the occasion of latter’s birthday.
Simon Raj told HT that the provocation for the attack was the collision of the bikes. “We were going to a bakery when the bike collided with us. After the accident, the man accused Chandru of saying passing derogatory remarks. Even though we kept telling them that we had said nothing and they should carry on. They were speaking in Urdu and we were speaking in Kannada. At one point there was some pushing, and then two more people joined him (the attacker) and they stabbed Chandru,” said Raj.
“As soon as he was attacked, I ran from there, hoping Chandru too would have fled, however, when I returned, he was lying in a pool of blood. No one helped us, there were at least 10-12 people there. They just watched, no one called the police or stopped the attack. They were Muslims, they could have asked them not to attack us. If someone would have helped, Chandru would have survived. ,” he added. When asked specifically if not speaking Urdu was the reason for the murder, Raj said: “The fight started after the bikes collided.”
A senior IPS officer said that calling the city police commissioner a liar for political reasons will affect the morale of the police department.
Former Bengaluru city police commissioner and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member, Bhaskar Rao, on Monday defended his successor in a Twitter post, saying, “The Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru is an institution that protects 15 million citizens. Calling the commissioner, a “liar” in media by a politician of the ruling state government and party in power is insulting to Chief Minister and Government hopefully better governance prevails (sic),”
Commissioner Pant refused to comment on the controversy. In a statement to the media, he said: “As per our investigation, the murder has taken place over the collision. That’s it,” he said.
Congress legislator Chamarajpet Zameer Ahmed said,“You have seen the statements made by these leaders. They are calling a commissioner appointed by the BJP government a liar. What will CID do? They are also local police.”
