BENGALURU: Some of the officers of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that cracked two high profile murder cases that had sent shock waves across India, are upset over the way they were felicitated recently. Among the reasons is that the programme was organised one-and-a-half years after the case was cracked. They were also reportedly upset at being felicitated along with the SIT members who handled the IMA multi-crore cheating case. Besides, the lack of publicity at the event miffed them too.
On Tuesday, Director General and Inspector General of Police Neelmani N Raju felicitated the officers and staffers who were part of the SIT that cracked the murder cases of journalist Gauri Lankesh’s and scholar M M Kalburgi’s. The information gathered by the SIT helped solve the murders of Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabolkhar in Maharashtra too. The felicitation event was held at a star hotel on Tuesday evening, followed by dinner.
It is learnt that it was an informal gathering where the DG&IGP distributed ‘certificates of commendation’ to the SIT staff. Almost every staff of the SIT had attended the meeting. However, the question of holding the event now, one-and-a-half years after the case was solved, is making rounds among the staff. A member of the SIT, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “Though we appreciate their gesture, most of us felt it was not necessary to hold the event now. Such programs should have been arranged long ago and would have been apt.
“We would have not have bothered if it were some other case. Gauri Lankesh case hit headlines at the national level and even many foreign newspapers had written about it. And our investigation helped solve three other unsolved important cases committed by the same gang. Hence, we thought we deserved better treatment,” he added.
However, several others refused to comment about it as it was an unofficial event and was intended to appreciate the work done by both the SIT members.