Daijiworld Media Network - Shivamogga (SP)

Shivamogga, Apr 16: A man who had filed a complaint about having been robbed of two lac rupees by the police personnel manning the New Mandli check post in the city, and his wife, it transpires, have committed suicide. The suicide came to light with inordinate delay.

The deceased are Ramesh (45), resident of Gopala Koravara Beedi here and his wife, Mookambika (42). They appear to have committed suicide four to five days back inside their house. Their bodies were found to have been decomposed.

Ramesh was working in the field of car decoration. The couple's eight-year-old son had been dropped off by the couple at the residence of a relative at Hosanagara before committing suicide.

Reportedly, the couple has expressed their wish in a suicide note left behind in the bedroom that their son should become an IAS or IPS officer. Postmortem of the bodies was conducted at Mcgann Hospital here on Sunday. A case about the suicide was registered at Tunganagara police station.

Ramesh was reportedly bringing two lac rupees in cash from Tudur in Thirthahalli taluk to the city by motor bike on April 3 when reportedly two policemen manning New Mandli check post stopped him, snatched away cash in the guise of verification and escaped by bus. On the same evening, Ramesh had registered a complaint at the office of the superintendent of police here. After two days, a first information report had been registered at Doddapet police station here. It is said that senior police officials who summoned Ramesh to the station, had subjected him to intensive interrogation. Hurt by this, Ramesh had stopped receiving telephonic calls. In the meanwhile, during the questioning, he had identified one of the constables who reportedly snatched away his cash and he also had recorded the registration number of three motor bikes of the police personnel involved in the robbery in his complaint. It is being said that senior officials, who were making all out efforts to save their staff, were tough in dealing with the complainant.

There is also suspicion that Ramesh would have cooked up this story to escape from the clutches of people who had lent money to him. At the same time, people are questioning as to what the police posted at the check post were doing at the time if the robbery was committed by thieves posing as policemen.

District superintendent of police, Abhinav Khare, said that Ramesh would have been interrogated by the police on the basis of his complaint. He said that police have not taken away money belonging to him. He added that there is possibility of a gang posing as a team of policemen having robbed him, as such a gang involved with snatching away cash and gold ornaments is active in the district. He said that detailed investigation alone will reveal the purpose behind the couple's suicide.

There have been allegations that instead of bringing out the truth, the police had threatened Ramesh. There are reports which say that Ramesh was being treated as a criminal for bringing this episode into the open. The fact that Ramesh and his wife ended their lives when the case is under investigation has also given rise to speculations.