Are Karnataka politicians hounding top police officers for honesty? Cops fall prey to increasing pressure by Mafia and government

Bengaluru, July 11: Call it burdening work schedule or unable to cope up with professional and personal commitment, the fact is that the Karnataka state Police department, which is running acutely short of manpower, stands second in South India when it comes to suicides by police personnel and fifth in the country.

Whatever be the motive for these deaths under mysterious circumstances might be, a fact that stands out in the whole process is that Karnataka is not a place for honest and dedicated bureaucrats and other officials.

Three days after the alleged suicide of a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Karnataka’s Belagavi town, another officer of the same rank has committed suicide by hanging in the Kodagu district, police said.

MK Ganapathy was found dead in a lodge from where a suicide note was found. The police, who are investigating the case, are yet to reveal the contents.

“We found the body of deputy superintendent of police MK Ganapathy, 51, hanging by rope to a ceiling fan in a lodge room. He was in uniform with service revolver around the waist,” news agency IANS quoted Kodagu district police superintendent Rajendra Prasad as saying.

Sources, however, indicate that he had named a senior minister in the Siddharamaiah cabinet, his influential son and also a senior police officer, suggesting there was political pressure that led to the death.

Ganapathy was transferred to Mangaluru inspector general police office, about 360 km from Bengaluru, in May.

Now, the government has handed over the case to CID.

On Tuesday, Kallappa Handibagh, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Chikkamagaluru, who was accused of taking Rs. 10 lakh as bribe to release a man involved in gambling, was found dead at his relative’s place at Muragod in Belagavi. He was declared dead at KLE hospital.

Reports said he had gone missing after a case was lodged against him on Monday.

As per ministry of home affairs (MHA) records, 39 cops ended their life in Karnataka between 2012 and 2014. Karnataka recorded 17, 15 and 7 suicides by cops in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. While Tamil Nadu recorded 116 cases during the three year period, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh recorded 32 and 23 cases each.

Further, the MHA states that the factors in most suicide cases were personal and domestic problems such as marital discords, personal enmity, mental illness, depression etc.

In a few cases, work stress/harassment from seniors was found to be the reason.

But, most men in Khaki differ stating that though the reasons for suicide have been mostly personal, the work pressure can aggravate stress levels significantly.

The work that the policemen do is such that there is very little time to address problems at home or attend to personal issues.

The young IAS officer DK Ravi (Karnataka cadre), who allegedly committed suicide, was also a victim of similar circumstances.

Ever since he was drafted into the Karnataka cadre in 2009 after securing a rank of 34 in the all-India merit list for civil services examinations, Ravi went on to win accolades and nothing else.

Though the Karnataka government took steps to register the case of death of these officers, the investigations, sadly, are moving in snail’s pace.  And none of their family has got any proper justification on what dragged them to take drastic step.