Belagavi, Dec 25: The Karnataka Police on Wednesday suspended the Inspector of Khanapur Police Station in Belagavi on the charges of violating the superior officers’ orders by letting BJP leaders inside the police station during MLC C. T. Ravi’s arrest.

IGP (Northern Range) Vikash Kumar Vikash has issued the order of suspension in this regard.

“On December 19, BJP MLC C. T. Ravi was shifted to Khanapur Police Station from the Hirebagewadi Police Station. Strict instructions were given not to allow anyone inside the station. It was also instructed to arrange security with available staff of the police station,” the IGP stated.

“Police Inspector Manjunath Nayak had not made proper security arrangements. The political leaders barged inside the police station. This had created confusion on the premises of the police station. He had failed to prevent the entry of political leaders,” the IGP said.

The IGP said that a suspension order is issued for violating the orders from superior officers, dereliction of duty, negligence and irresponsible behaviour by the officer.

Meanwhile, the development has taken a political turn with the BJP, Dalit and pro-Kannada organisations calling for a Khanapur bandh to protest the Police Inspector’s suspension.

Deputy CM D. K. Shivakumar and Home Minister G. Parameshwara held a meeting of police officers in Belagavi.

Talking to reporters, Parameshwara said, “The matter of C. T. Ravi was not discussed in the meeting. The case is currently being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). When the matter is being investigated, I won’t make any comments.”

“The decision to suspend Manjunath Nayak was taken by the senior officers of the department. The government will not interfere in the matter in any eventuality,” he maintained.

Deputy CM Shivakumar had slammed the BJP leaders for holding a meeting in the Khanapur police station.

A BJP delegation comprising senior BJP leaders from Belagavi, including Anil Benake and Subhash Patil, met IGP Vikas Kumar and Belagavi Police Commissioner Iada Martin Marbaniang on Wednesday and demanded the arrest of the accused who allegedly attacked Ravi at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha.

The Karnataka BJP delegation had demanded Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to intervene in the investigation of the derogatory remark case involving Ravi and Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar and to ensure a judicial inquiry.

BJP leader R. Ashoka had alleged that police stations have effectively turned into Congress offices in Karnataka and said that he is sceptical about the impartiality of police investigations.

The row erupted on December 19 during a heated debate in the Karnataka Legislative Council.

Ravi allegedly referred to Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, as a “drug addict”. This provoked strong reactions, with Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar calling Ravi a “murderer”. Ravi reportedly responded with an obscene remark directed at Hebbalkar.

The alleged comment led to Ravi’s arrest on charges of using derogatory language against Hebbalkar.

However, following a High Court directive, Ravi was released, creating further political drama.

The Congress government has handed over the case to the special wing Criminal Investigation Department (CID) even as the Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti had said that the case is a closed chapter and the police interference is unacceptable.

Meanwhile, Minister Hebbalkar challenged Ravi to swear before Lord Manjunatheshwara at the famous Hindu pilgrimage centre in Dharmasthala in Karnataka, regarding his alleged use of derogatory words against her in the Legislative Council.

Kolkata, Dec 24: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday held that it will not act on the petition for a fresh probe in the ghastly rape and murder of a woman junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in August this year unless certain things in the matter are clarified.

As the petition for a fresh probe, filed by the parents of the victim, came up for hearing at the single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, he observed that first there is a need for clarification on whether the ongoing probe in the matter by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the matter is monitored by the Supreme Court or not.

The next date of hearing has been scheduled for January 15 next year and by then the petitioners will have to get clarifications either from the apex court or from any division bench of the Calcutta High Court in the matter.

“There is no problem in hearing the matter. But a clarification is required whether the probe is court-monitored or not,” Justice Ghosh observed.

On Tuesday, the CBI counsel informed Justice Ghosh’s bench that the probe in the matter by the central agency is being monitored by the apex court of the country. However, the counsel for the petitioners refuted that claim by the CBI counsel.

Thereafter Justice Ghosh asked for the clarifications on this claim and counter-claim either from the Supreme Court or a division bench of Calcutta High Court before further hearing in the matter.

Reacting to the observation of the court on Tuesday, the victim’s father told media persons that he would go as far as possible to get justice for his daughter.

“There might be some delay in the process. But we will be waiting with patience. My only aim is to secure justice for my daughter in whatever way possible,” he said.

On December 19, the victim’s parents approached Justice Ghosh’s bench seeking court direction for a fresh probe in the matter. The victim’s parents have claimed that they do not have any faith in the course of the current investigation by the central agency in the matter and hence they want a fresh investigation from the beginning in the matter.

Since the time a special court in Kolkata last week granted default bail to two individuals accused of tampering with the evidence since the CBI was unable to file a supplementary charge sheet against them within 90 days from the day of their arrest, the victim’s parents, as well as the representatives of the state’s medical fraternity, had been accusing the CBI of gross incompetence in the matter.

Those two accused persons were the former principal of R.G. Kar Sandip Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal. Ghosh is still behind bars because of the pending parallel probe by the CBI against him in the case of financial irregularities at R.G. Kar, while Mondal is already out on bail.

The CBI so far has filed only one charge sheet in the case where civic volunteer Sanjay Roy had been identified as the “sole prime accused” in the rape and murder.

Recently, the victim’s parents have also changed their counsel representing them at the Supreme Court.

Kolkata, Dec 24: A report submitted by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has created doubts over the “scene of the crime” in the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in August.

The body of the victim was spotted at the seminar hall within the hospital premises of R.G. Kar on the morning of August 9, and then first, the Kolkata Police and later the CBI carried out the investigation considering the seminar hall as the “scene of crime”.

However, a report that CFSL has submitted to the central investigating agency has clearly stated that there is no evident sign of scuffle within the seminar room, sources aware of the development said.

In fact, sources said, the CFSL report strengthens the apprehension raised by the section of the medical fraternity in the state since the beginning that the actual “scene of the crime” was someplace else and after the ghastly rape and murder the body was shifted to the seminar hall to mislead future investigation.

The explosive CFSL report on this count surfaced on the day when Calcutta High Court’s single Judge Bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh will hear a petition of the parents of the victim woman doctor seeking a fresh probe in the matter since the beginning.

Sources said that during the initial investigation carried out by Kolkata Police, the investigating cops of city police collected a total of 40 items from the seminar hall where the body of the victim was spotted on August 9.

Later after the Calcutta High Court directed the CBI to take charge of the investigation, several items recovered from the seminar hall were forwarded to CFSL for examination purposes. On August 14, a team of CFSL experts also physically examined the purported scene of the crime, i.e., the seminar hall.

Thereafter based on forensic reports of the items seized and the physical examination of the scene of the crime, CFSL has submitted a report to CBI which has created doubts about the actual scene of crime.