Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)

Puttur, Feb 1: Eleven years after the complaint was filed, Omprakash, the then police sub-inspector of Uppinangady station, who had been charged by the Lokayukta police of accepting bribe, has been acquitted of the charge. The third additional district court in Mangaluru has absolved him of the charges.

Acting on a complaint filed by a local named Janardana Gowda, Lokayukta police had raided the said police station on February 2, 2003, and registered cases against Omprakash and a police personnel named Satish, alleging that they had received illegal gratification.

Janardana Gowda had accused Omprakash of demanding bribe of Rs 2,000 for the renewal of gun licence, with the condition that the amount should be paid through a police staffer named Satish. Both of them had been suspended, after which local citizens had held protest against this action, alleging that this was a politically motivated act.

Omprakash had won governor's medal for his meritorious service to the department before his suspension.

However, because of the above allegations, Omprakash has not been given any promotion ever since the case was filed, and remains posted as a police sub-inspector in the office of the city police commissioner at Bengaluru.

Advocates, Mahesh Kaje and Prasad Kumar Rai, had argued the case on behalf of Omprakash, while Satish was represented by P P Hegde.