UDUPI: Karkala DySP S Vijay Prasad, Karkala Circle Inspector Sandeep GS and DySP office staff Shivananda were suspended on Thursday following a sting operation by a private television channel that allegedly caught police personnel accepting money offered by a decoy to allow illegal activities.
A video of the sting operation showed Sandeep GS handling cash allegedly received from a person posing as someone seeking police protection for illegal activities. According to the order issued by IGP (Western Range) Amit Singh, the footage prima facie tarnished the image of the police department and amounted to violations of the Karnataka Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 2021.
In a separate order, DG&IGP MA Saleem suspended DySP Vijay Prasad, holding him responsible for negligence of duty in connection with the incident.
The order noted that while the DySP was not seen personally accepting the money, he admitted in his statement that a person had entered his office claiming he wanted to hand over cash and subsequently forced the money on a subordinate.
The order observed that the DySP could have initiated legal action against the individual but failed to do so, amounting to serious dereliction of duty, and that the incident brought disrepute to the police and violated conduct rules governing public servants.
The cops will remain under suspension pending departmental inquiries. Udupi SP Hariram Shankar said three cops were suspended pending a disciplinary order after a preliminary enquiry conducted by the Additional SP.