In a relief to eight police officers and police personnel in a 22-year-old lock-up death case, the Karnataka High Court gave them a clean chit in the charges of illegal detention of a person on the charge of theft, torturing and abetting him to commit suicide, and tampering with police station records to overcome the charge of illegal detention.
The victim, Nanjunda, had committed suicide in the lock-up of Mahalakshmi Layout police station during the early hours of March 23, 1993.
The court declared that it can’t find them guilty in the absence of cogent and satisfactory material and other evidence, including documentary evidence.
Also, the court found serious variations between the allegations levelled by the wife of the victim and her deposition before the trial court.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar and Justice B.V. Nagarathna delivered the verdict while setting aside the 2011 verdict of the Fast Track Court-VIII, Bengaluru, which had convicted four police personnel. The bench also dismissed appeals by the State government, which had questioned acquittal of the four other police personnel besides seeking enhancement of sentence to the convicted ones.
K.P. Bettegowda, who was then inspector of Mahalakshmi Layout police station and retired as Superintendent of Police; K.P. Gopal, who was then sub-inspector of the police station and is now inspector in the city special branch; then head constable Hanumaiah and constable Ravikumar were acquitted of all the charges on which they were convicted by the trial court.
The bench upheld the acquittal of the four other accused – Loknath Kadari, then sub-inspector of Srirampura police station; Chickkaboraiah, then sub-inspector of Mahalakshmi Layout police station; and then constables Srinath and Narasimhaiah.The Bench held that the prosecution could not establish the charge that Nanjunda was detained on February 27, 1993 by the police and kept in illegal custody besides being repeatedly subjected to torture.
All the material, both oral and documentary, the bench said, clearly establish that Nanjunda was arrested around 3 p.m. on March 22, 1993. He was lodged in the lock-up where he tried to commit suicide by hanging with a bed sheet around 3 a.m. on March 23 and died at the hospital where he was shifted by the police.
