The city police would soon file charge sheet against senior leader of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi Sambhaji L. Patil, MLA (Belgaum South) for his damning public utterances against the state government last year.
Mr. Patil had said that they would have taken out “funeral procession” of the Karnataka government if there were two more MLAs (supported by MES) on the occasion of the winter session of the State legislature here last year. The Kannada organisations and Opposition had take strong exception to the “anti-Karnataka” statements by the sitting MLA, following which the government had assured to take action.
Police Commissioner S. Ravi told The Hindu here on Friday that a case under Section 153A of IPC was already registered against Mr. Patil but the investigations could not be complemented for want of sanction to file chargesheet against the sitting MLA. Now that the Speaker of the legislative assembly and sanctioned for prosecution, the chargesheet would be filed before the court soon. The investigations into the matter had already been completed, he said.
Case against Marathi newspaper
Meanwhile, the police have taken up investigation into the allegedly provocative reports of “Tarun Bharat”, a popular Marathi daily newspaper published from Belagavi, Goa and other centres in Maharashtra following a complaint registered with the Khade Bazaar Police Station about a month ago, Mr. Ravi said.
The police have registered a case against the Editor and Owner of the newspaper under Section 153A of IPC following a complaint from one Satish Basappa, a resident of Gokak town. He has alleged that the newspaper had published provocative news reports threatening Kannada - Marathi linguistic harmony in Belagavi.
