Udupi: Reforms have Enhanced Quality of Police Force - IGP Gopal Hosur
 
Report and Pics by Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (RD)
 
Udupi, Jul 19: IGP Gopal Hosur on Monday July 19 said that significant changes are being made in the recruitment of police personnel owing to reforms in police Human Resources Development (HRD) department. These changes have been contributing to improvement in the quality of the police force.

Speaking after inauguraing the refurbished office of the Superintendent of Police (SP), Hosur said that Udupi district tops in maintaining the highest quality in police training, standing first in both state and country in the development of basic infrastructure. It has been chosen as a model district to develop other districts, he added.
 

Hosur said that Udupi district police were successful in curbing Naxal menace in a few hilly regions across the district and in assisting the tribals living in Naxal affected areas over the past one and a half years. The free voting in Naxal affected areas during gram panchayat and Lok Sabha elections proves the efficiency of district police force, he added.
 
Hosur further said that the reforms in state police were due to the efforts of DGIG Ajay Kumar Singh and allottment of funds for modernization of police force by state home minister Dr V S Acharya. The transfers of top police officers have been done to improve the efficiency of the police force, he said, and urged the police personnel to discuss their grievances with higher officers to resolve their various issues.
 
Hosur also awarded certificates to police personnel who had overseen the polling during the recently held gram panchayat elections. He also presented cash award to DySP Jayanth Shetty and his team for their breakthrough in nabbing chain-snatchers and Karkala sub-inspector Ramachandra Nayak for solving a Bangalore-related murder case within Karkala.
 
SP Praveen Kumar Pawar, ASP Venkateshappa, DySP Jayanth Shetty and police personnel were present on the occasion.

Chain Snatchers Nabbed – Over a Kg Gold Recovered

Udupi, Jul 19: A police  team led by deputy  superintendent of police (DySP), Jayant Shetty, succeeded in arresting two expert chain snatchers and recovering from them about 1,050 grams of gold ornaments worth Rs 18.38 lac. They have also seized a Tata Sumo vehicle and two two-wheelers the thieves used for their thefts. The total value of the items seized by the policemen is Rs 21.68 lac.

The modus operandi of the thieves was to move about in deserted places in two-wheelers, and suddenly snatch away the ornaments worn by pedestrian women found to be moving alone. They normally targetted aged women, and at times, brandished knives to threaten them to part with their ornaments, the policemen said. In one such case, a woman travelling in the pillion of a two-wheeler had fallen to the ground, sustaining serious injuries.

The arrested men are, Ramesh Poojary (35), resident of Gundibail here, who worked as a bus driver initially, before shifting to a more lucrative chain-snatching job. His accomplice has been identified as Vadiraj Kotian (27)_ from Janata Colony in Dodanagudde here. He worked as part time conductor in buses earlier. The two had bought the Tata Sumo vehicle from out of their earnings, and used this vehicle to roam around places and choose their targets. To make it difficult for their victims to note down the registration numbers of their vehicles, they specifically used Kannada alphabets and numerals in the number plates, the policemen revealed. The two confessed that during the past one year, they were involved with 17 cases of robbing the women moving about in lonely places, of their gold ornaments.

They reportedly sold the stolen ornaments to Umesh Kamat of G K Consultants. The policemen said Kamat bought the ornaments, knowing fully well about the antecedents of the sellers, melted the ornaments, and got various ornaments of different designs made out of the gold so got. He too has been arrested. The policemen propose to seek a week’s custody of these three people to thoroughly investigate their involvement with other thefts.

Inspector general of police, Gopal Hosur, addressing a press conference here on Monday July 19, said that 36 chain-snatching cases had occurred in the district in 2009, with four more having been reported during this year. There are cases of thieves claiming to clean the ornaments, seeking ornaments in the guise of performing puja etc., he said. He also announced a reward of Rs 25,000 to the team of Jayant Shetty. District superintendent of police, Pravin Madhukar Pawar, appreciated the team for unearthing two major cases in the last three months.

The policemen are confident of fulfilling legal procedures in connection with returning the gold to the true owners in altered form, as original ones have been tampered with, within a week.