ARIYALUR: Tension prevailed for a while at Government circuit house in the wake of people hearing continuous gun shots in the wee hours of Sunday. The people promptly alerted the police.
On information, Ariyalur district collector Mrs. M. Vijayalakshmi accompanied by SP, Srinivasan, SP Perambalur Disha Mittal and others rushed to the government circuit house and held an inquiry with a police constable Manibalan who was posted to assist Hemant Kalson, Inspector General of Police, Haryana, now posted as a police observer for the Chidambaram(Reserve) Lok Sabha constituency. He is staying at the Government circuit house there and attending to poll duties.
Preliminary inquiries with Manibalan and other staff in the Government circuit house revealed that Mr. Hemant was allegedly in an inebriated condition. He had asked the service pistol from police constable Manibalan, saying that he wanted to check whether the weapon was in order.
Manibalan told the local officials that since Mr .Hemant was also an IPS officer that too in the rank of Inspector General of Police, he handed over his gun to him and had not noticed thath he was in an inebriated condition. Then Mr. Hemant opened nine rounds in the air, out of the ten bullets loaded in the gun. Ariyalur police registered a case against Mr. Hemant and are investigating.
Other sources told DC that a departmental inquiry has been ordered against him and the election commission of India ordered his immediate removal from official duty.
DIG Hemant Kalson, suspected to be under the influence of alcohol, asked the Police constable posted there to give the gun and started firing in the air on a road near the Circuit House, where he has been staying. Others staying in the circuit house rushed out on hearing gun shots when they found the officer
firing in the air. Kalson then handed back the gun to the shocked constable before going back to his room and resuming his sleep as if nothing happened, they said. Police said the constable could not refuse when the observer asked for the gun as he was a high ranking police official.
According to officials, Kalson, who was among the observer for the April 18 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, had been relieved from duty with immediate effect based on the recommendation of district collector M Vijayalakshmi, who is the election officer. State Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo in Chennai said the officer had been relieved as observer and an FIR has been registered against him. Police are investigating the case.
