Bengaluru: The main complaint of alleged sexual assault against a young woman has been put on the backburner and the focus of the government machinery is now on how to handle the situation of a senior IPS officer and former ADGP KSRP P. Ravindranath, who has been accused under Section 354 (sexual assault) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and is now reportedly playing the ‘victim’ card by going from one office to the other demanding his arrest.
The equally bigger concern is to contain the growing revolt in the KSRP, which was triggered this week by their former boss Ravindranath, when around 500 KSRP personnel went on the rampage in South Bengaluru, blocked traffic for five hours and damaged a police van.
Governor H.R. Bhardwaj has taken an exception to the way the case is being handled with the IPS officer, who has criticised his colleagues for falsely implicating him and ‘manhandling’ him at High Grounds police station.
Ravindranath on Saturday walked up to the office of the Director General of Police, CID Bipin Gopal Krishna and demanded that he be arrested. When CID officials refused, he went to the KSRP grounds in Koramangala, interacted with the personnel and even took the salute, though he is no longer with them. He was transferred on Tuesday evening and asked to report to the Director General and Inspector General of Police Lalrokhuma Pachuau. In the evening, he met Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee.
Meanwhile, sources said that the government, which is handling the officer with kid gloves, especially after he flashed the caste card and alleged that Bengaluru Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar treated him like an ‘untouchable’ as he belonged to the Scheduled Caste and registered a criminal complaint against Mr Auradkar and DCP (Central) Ravikanthe Gowda under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, may issue show cause notice to him under the All India Civil Services (Discipline & Appeals) Rules, said an official source.
