Mangalore: Vigilant groups taking law into their hands will not be tolerated - ADGP

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore

Mangalore, Aug 7: In the wake of increase in the number of cattle thefts and slaughter cases in the district of late, M N Reddy additional DGP (law and order) on Wednesday August 7 warned that vigilant groups will not be tolerated.

"Vigilantism will not be tolerated. No group will be allowed to take law into its hands. If found doing so, strict action will be taken against the group," he said, addressing media persons after reviewing the law and order issues at commissioner’s office here.

Briefing further, he said the city police commissioner is doing a good job and will continue to do so. "Whenever issues are brought to our notice, we will take action as per law, irrespective of the person involved."

"We have instructed all police officials with regard to security measures to prevent further instances of cattle thefts. There is no need for people to worry," he assured.

On the issue of shortage of police staff, he said, "The problem is there in whole of Karnataka. Altogether there are 18,000 vacancies in the state, and as per the government order, necessary steps will be taken to fill up the vacancies."

He added, "No police force can ever be sufficient and hence we are concentrating on mobility, improving technology and others. In three years, vacant positions will be filled and the situation will improve," he added.

Lauding the police commissioner for tackling goonda activities in the city, additional DGP said, "We discussed the matter during a review meeting. We will collect all the information about the goondas and necessary steps will be taken," he said, assuring to minimise gang activities soon.

IGP Pratap Reddy clarified that the police are not under pressure from any person or people. "Whenever incidents have been brought to our notice, we have dealt with them under law and taken strict action.

"In Western Ghats and Mangalore city limits, patrolling has been made strict," he added.

On the Moodbidri Basadi theft case, police commissioner Manish Karbikar said, "The investigation was tough as we did not have any primary information. We only had CCTV footage first in which identification was difficult.

"Our investigation teams left for various places to track down the accused. Initially, we recovered 3 idols and 5 idols converted into gold bricks. The accused was also involved in many offences at Andhra Pradesh and Orissa too," he said.

"The accused did not stick to one place, instead, he kept on wandering which made our investigation tough, but finally we nabbed him in Andhra Pradesh," he added.

"The remaining 7 idols are yet to be recovered. The accused during investigation has admitted that he was involved in 8 theft cases at Kumta, Kundapur, Karkala, Moodbidri and Udupi town," he said.

"The remaining information will be briefed to the media once the investigation is complete," he added.