Over 140 police personnel across 11 sub-divisions of the Bengaluru City Police have been suspended over the last 11 months for alleged involvement in criminal activities, corrupt practices, and serious dereliction of duty.
Probably for the first time in the history of the State police, the city Police Commissioner, Additional Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Police were among those suspended for the stampede in M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in which 11 people died and over 50 people were injured.
The suspensions in other cases involved bribery, misuse of official position, links with criminal elements, negligence in investigation, failure to perform assigned duties, and violations of service rules.
The most recent case involves the Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Malleshwaram sub-division, who was allegedly caught red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹30,000 from a hotelier in exchange for allowing the establishment to operate beyond permissible business hours.
Annappa Naik, attached to the Govindapura police station, was arrested for his alleged key role in an ATM cash van robbery in Siddapura. In another case, a police constable attached to the Internal Security Division was arrested in September for allegedly abducting migrant labourers and extorting money in the Varthur police station limits.
In November, two police constables from the J.P. Nagar police station were arrested for allegedly extorting money from an insurance adviser and his female clients. Separately, a Deputy Superintendent of Police working with the State Human Rights Commission was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with a forgery and suspicious death case dating back to 2019.
An inspector and three constables from Bellandur and Varthur inspector Ramesh Rotty were suspended by Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh over allegations of dereliction of duty and for having demanded money from retired BPCL chief financial officer. Three constables, including a woman, were suspended on charges of detaining a domestic help on the charges of theft and assaulting her brutally at the station, amounting to custodial torture.
In December this year, head constable Zabeeullah attached to the Cyber Crime Police Station allegedly stole ₹11 lakh from a car belonging to an accused in a cybercrime case, which had been seized and parked on the premises of the Police Commissioner’s office.
A recent Lokayukta report indicated that the Karnataka Police topped the list among State departments in terms of raids and disproportionate assets cases, underscoring persistent concerns over corruption within the system.
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