BENGALURU: A police inspector, who took a dig at the steel flyover project in a Facebook post asking how the state government intended to implement it after the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, has been issued a memo by his department. Kalasipalya inspector Raghavendra Ramanna had allegedly posted the FB message in Kannada on Saturday night asking, “What happened to the steel bridge story? Has Modi’s master stroke (ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency) made it disappear? The black money that was supposed to be transacted will now disappear. How is the master stroke. Activists (who were against steel bridge construction) can say it is a win for the protest that they held.” While 128 people liked the post, his department didn’t. Ramanna’s taunting message had been removed half an hour after it was posted but that didn’t help.
The matter of a police inspector, who took a dig at the steel flyover project in a Facebook post asking how the state government intended to implement it after the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, reached the higher-ups when a reporter questioned DCP (west) Anucheth about the post. Home minister G Parameshwara, who got to know about it, is said to have taken the matter up seriously, and sought an explanation from city police commissioner N S Megharikh as well as strict action.
Anucheth said, “I have issued a memo seeking Ramanna’s explanation for his post on government policy within 3 days.”
Incidentally, Ramanna had recently earned the praise of the department’s top brass for a novel initiative. After being posted at Kalasipalya three months ago, he introduced a concept “hero of the month” to encourage his subordinates. So, cops who cracked a case or did something noteworthy would find their pictures pasted in the station captioned as heroes. The concept was much appreciated by the department then.