BENGALURU: Where is Congress MLA J N Ganesh? The question should be irrelevant as the MLA, accused of assaulting fellow party MLA Anand Singh at a resort near Bengaluru in January, was arrested after being on the run for a month and sent to jail. Apparently not. The Kampli MLA, who has been suspended by his party, is not in Parappana Agrahara Central Jail as he was shifted to Victoria Hospital about 10 days back after he complained of health complications. But, strangely, neither is he in the jail ward of the government-run hospital. So, where is he?
According to Chief Superintendent of Parappana Agrahara Central Jail M Somashekar, Ganesh was taken to Victoria Hospital for treatment of hernia, infection of the urinary tract and chest, besides depression.
But when The New Indian Express checked the jail ward at the hospital, he was not there. Neither was he in an annexe ward, as claimed by the hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Ramesh Krishna K and Ganesh’s personal assistant Prasanna. The City Armed Reserve (CAR), South DCP, Yogesh M, too, assured that Ganesh was in the hospital’s jail ward. But, TNIE found the hospital jail ward and the annexe vacant with no patient from the jail present there on Thursday afternoon.
Interestingly, during The New Indian Express’ repeated visits to the hospital to determine Ganesh’s location, police personnel as well as the security staff posted there kept insisting that Ganesh had indeed been taken from the jail ward three days ago, but claimed to have no knowledge of who had taken him or where."Why are you wasting your time? He (Ganesh) is not here," a securityman at the hospital told this reporter.
If Ganesh has been taken to some other hospital, court’s permission is required as he is in judicial custody. But officials at the jail and the CAR, which is responsible for his security at the hospital, kept insisting that Ganesh was at the hospital.
TNIE scouted the jail’s hospital ward and its annexe on Wednesday and Thursday but found no presence of Ganesh anywhere there, even as Somashekar kept insisting that the arrested MLA, who is in judicial custody, was not in Parappana Agrahara jail but at the hospital jail ward.
Ganesh being treated as common prisoner: DCP
When TNIE asked Ramesh Krishna why Ganesh was not in the hospital’s jail ward, he said he was in the annexe ward. But when TNIE asked whether he or his men could show Ganesh in the hospital, he said no staff was available in the hospital at the time, although it was not past 5pm. He instead said they would show him on Friday morning.
Ramesh Krishna said Ganesh was moved to the hospital’s jail annexe ward as he was being pestered by his followers from his constituency. However, it is learnt that the police personnel posted to guard him are not supposed to allow anyone to meet Ganesh, let alone pester, as he has been brought from the jail for treatment and remains in judicial custody.
DCP CAR(South) Yogesh said Ganesh was being treated as a common undertrial prisoner. “If people are claiming that he is having a luxurious life in hospital jail ward, it is false. We cannot disclose how many men have been deployed for his security purpose, but no additional force is deployed. He is not even given a bedsheet, I myself visit the jail ward and have seen it with my own eyes. He is undergoing treatment along with other prisoners.”
Somashekar, when asked about Ganesh’s security, said, “We are responsible for leaving him in the hospital jail ward after which police personnel deployed in the jail ward provide security to the prisoners based on what kind of prisoner he/she is.”A senior officer on condition of anonymity said security depends on the background of the criminal. Because Ganesh was earlier on the run, he should have been guarded more securely, the officer said.
Ganesh was on the run for a month after attacking Anand Singh while they were at a resort near Bidadi where all the Congress MLAs were brought to prevent them from being lured by the BJP. He was finally found in a hotel in Somnath in Gujarat and was brought to Bengaluru. Ramanagar court had remanded him in judicial custody. He had later filed a bail application, order on which is reserved.
B Ramesh, Superintendent of Police, Ramanagar district, under whose jurisdiction the case was registered, said they had nothing to do with him after his arrest. “The jail staff will have to provide him security till he is in judicial custody,” he said.