KALABURAGI: The circle inspector of Kalaburagi (Rural) police station sustained serious injuries and has slipped into a coma after he and his team were attacked by over 40 ganja growers at Taruri village of Umarga taluk in Maharashtra, around 85 km from Kalaburagi.
The victim, Srimant Illala (54), and his team of policemen had gone to the village to conduct a raid around 10 pm on Friday when ganja growers attacked them with clubs and sharp weapons. Illala, an ex-serviceman, fired in the air, but could not fend off the attackers. The police officer sustained injuries on his face, chest and stomach. After the attack, the gang escaped.
Personnel from the Maharashtra police and Manthala police station of Basavakalyan taluk, who arrived at the spot, searched for Illala in the dark for over an hour before finding him lying unconscious in a field. They rushed him to United Hospital in Kalaburagi around 5 am on Saturday.
Northeast Range IGP Manish Kharbikar told The New Sunday Express that Home Minister Araga Jnanendra has told officials to airlift Illala to either Bengaluru or Hyderabad for better treatment, if required.
Police sources said that a man, who was arrested on charges of selling ganja recently, had told the police that he purchased the drug from Taruri village of Maharashtra bordering Basavakalyan taluk.
8 policemen went to the village
A team of about eight policemen of Mahagaon Police Station, led by Ilala went to the village around 8 pm on Friday. A senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, said the team, while on its way to Taruri, visited the police station at Manthala around 6 pm and sought help. But the police from the neighbouring state and local residents advised the Kalaburagi police team not to venture into the region during night.
After reaching Taruri, some members of the team went to Umarga to seek the help of local police.
Five personnel, including Illala, stayed at Taruri. The other members of the team were Kupendra, Nagaraj, Rajendra Reddy and Kishan.As ganja growers launched the attack, the four policemen escaped, while Illala was caught by the criminals.
Jurisdictional issue
When this correspondent contacted Police Inspector of Umarga Police Station PR Rathod, he said that though Taruri falls under the jurisdiction of Umarga police station, the incident occurred in Manthala police limits of Basavakalyan which borders Umarga. He said Manthala police should conduct the investigation. Dr Sudarshan of United Hospital, who is attending to the patient, said the condition of Illala is critical.
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Praveen Sood termed the incident “very unfortunate”. Sood said the police has arranged an air ambulance to airlift Illala to Hyderabad Apollo Hospital for treatment. The culprits will not be spared, he tweeted.