Bengaluru, Jan 7 The Congress-led government in Karnataka on Wednesday appointed a new Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Superintendent of Police (SP) to Ballari, a region that has been in national news following banner-related violence that ended in a shootout resulting in the death of a Congress worker.
The government transferred Ballari Division Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Vartika Katiyar and appointed IGP P.S. Harsha in her place. It may be noted that the government had earlier posted Vartika Katiyar to the position after downgrading the post. Barely a few days after taking charge, Vartika Katiyar was transferred. IGP Harsha had been awaiting a posting.
Vartika Katiyar has now been appointed, with immediate effect, as the DIG of the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (DCRE).
Sumana Pannekar has been appointed as the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Ballari in place of Pavan Nejjur, who was suspended on the very day he assumed charge following the Ballari violence. The government maintained that Pavan Nejjur showed gross negligence by not visiting the spot during the violence. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H.K. Patil stated that the SP was expected to rush to the spot even if it was 30 minutes after assuming charge.
Sources said that after assuming charge, senior police officers, including IPS officers, were holding a party to bid farewell to the transferred SP and welcome the new SP, who had assumed charge on January 1. During the party, a violent clash broke out between BJP and Congress workers in front of BJP MLA Gali Janardhana Reddy’s residence.
When mobs began gathering, police sources said that only two constables were deployed at the spot, while other officers were at the police bungalow attending the party.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Gali Janardhana Reddy and his associate, former minister B. Sriramulu, alleged that the government forced the family of deceased Congress worker Rajashekar to cremate the body instead of burying it in an attempt to hush up the case. Sriramulu alleged that the Congress worker was hit by multiple bullets and that if the details were disclosed, local Congress leaders would be implicated.
On the other hand, the camp of Congress MLA Nara Bharath Reddy released a photograph allegedly showing a gunman firing from the roof of BJP MLA Janardhana Reddy’s residence. It has been alleged that firing also took place from Janardhana Reddy’s side, following which the Congress demanded a probe into the role of the government gunman. In this backdrop, Ballari police have taken up an investigation into the photograph that has been released.
On January 1, a major clash broke out between Congress and BJP workers in front of Gangavati MLA Janardhana Reddy’s residence in Ballari over the issue of putting up a banner. During the violence, a bullet fired from the gun of a private gunman of Satish Reddy, an aide of Congress MLA Nara Bharath Reddy, struck Congress worker Rajashekar, who died on the spot.
The matter has since taken a political turn and is getting new twists every day. The police have arrested 26 persons in connection with the case so far, and all of them have been remanded to judicial custody.
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