City Police Commissioner R. Hithendra on Thursday exhorted businessmen in the city not to fall prey to extortion calls by those claiming to be from the underworld and instead report them to the police in order to make way for stringent action.
Addressing members of the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) here, Mr. Hithendra said the city was plagued with two major issues — underworld and communalism. Only 10 per cent of the extortion calls were likely to be from real underworld operators while the rest were found to be fake. The police were on the job and had arrested 27 people on the charge of having underworld connection, he said.
As far as communalism is concerned, the issue was more to do with social and political atmosphere even as the police were trying their best to contain the menace, Mr. Hithendra said. As long as the ‘manufacturing units’ continue to produce the ‘foot soldiers’, the menace was likely to continue. Issues with regard to transportation of cows and inter-religious elopement were the two main triggers for clash, he said. It was not moral policing but goondaism, he said, responding to a question.
To a question from a girl student from Ullal as to when girls in that region could feel safe and walk around without fear amid frequent rumours of communal clash, Mr. Hithendra said Ullal continued to be communally sensitive area. While the department has ensured considerable police presence, he asked people to inform the source of the rumours so that the police could take suitable action.
Many questions from the audience did not get a specific reply from the Commissioner, who either dwelt upon the source of the problem [like communalism] or put the onus on other agencies [like traffic congestion]. Though he said functioning of police stations had remained the same despite Mangaluru getting a police commissionerate, he did not elaborate the steps taken/proposed to make them in tune with the changed system.
