Avinash, the suspect in the banner case of Puttur who was beaten up by the police, has said that he might have been a victim of custodial death had Arun Kumar Puthila, the independent candidate who the election in Puttur, not got him released from police custody on the night of May 15.
After the police secured him on May 15, he was taken to the office of Deputy Superintendent of Police, Puttur sub-division, at Manjalpadpu around 10 p.m. He was taken into the chamber of the DySP where Mr. Hiremath got a thick bamboo stick and assaulted him. “Puttur Rural Sub-Inspector Srinath Reddy, a few constables, including Harshith, too joined the DySP in assaulting the suspect,” Avinash alleged in a video message.
The complaint of police atrocity was filed by Avinash, one of the nine persons accused of displaying a banner mocking BJP leaders Nalin Kumar Kateel and D. V. Sadananda Gowda for the loss in Puttur Assembly constituency. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The DySP told him that since big names were involved in the banner case, it has become an international issue, and he must have got over 200 telephone calls asking to take strict action. Police did not even have time to eat food, the officer told Avinash and forced him to confess to the offence. He brandished his service revolver and kept the same on his table during the assault, Mr. Avinash alleged.
Around 1 a.m. of May 16, Mr. Puthila arrived at the DySP’s office and got him released. “If not for Arunanna, I would have died in custody because of the torture,” Mr. Avinash claimed.
Mr. Puthila, a Hindutva activist, contested as an independent candidate in the just-concluded Assembly elections after being denied a ticket by the BJP.
The BJP had nominated former zilla panchayat president Asha Thimmappa.
In a close contest, Mr. Puthila polled 62,458 votes, but lost to Congress candidate Ashok Kumar Rai, who polled 66,607 votes (margin of 4,149 votes). With 37,558 votes, the BJP candidate was relegated to the third position.
Two days after the result, a banner expressing ‘shraddhanjali’ (homage) to BJP State president Nalin Kumar Kateel and former chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda was displayed near the KSRTC bus stand.
The same day, former MLA Sanjeev Matandur, who was denied the BJP ticket this time, led a protest against display of the banner. Puttur Municipal Commissioner Madhu S Manohar filed a police complaint against unknown persons under the Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1981.
