Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has demanded that the State government hand over investigation of the murders of Anjali Ambiger and Neha Hiremath to the CBI, as he suspected that the State government is not acting responsibly in either cases.
He was speaking to reporters after visiting members of the Ambiger family in Hubballi on Sunday.
He said that the Congress government is lax in acting against offenders in the two murder cases, which is allowing such anti-social elements to take the law into their own hands.
“Leaders like Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Home Minister G. Parameshwara and others are making irresponsible statements. Also, the State government is not taking enough steps in preventing such crimes. These are provoking evil-minded people to commit such heinous offences,” he said.
According to him, the Congress government in the State is engaged in appeasement politics.
Neha Hiremath was murdered during the Lok Sabha elections and now that polling is over in Karnataka, the Congress government is behaving irresponsibly, Mr. Joshi said.
“There is unprecedented corruption in the Police Department for getting postings and transfers of choice and this is the main reason for the rise in crimes”Arvind Bellad,BJP MLA
He said that Girish Sawant, accused of Anjali’s murder, is a habitual offender who had earlier committed offences like assault and theft.
Mr. Joshi said that the police had failed to act strictly against him. Instead of booking strong criminal cases, the police have supported the accused by arranging compromises. If the police had acted in time and arrested the accused then itself, Anjali would have been saved, he said.
Mr. Joshi said that such brutal and heinous crimes had never not taken place earlier in the State. He listed out the crimes and said that in the last five months alone, the State had witnessed 430 murders, 692 farmer suicides, several extortion cases, harassment and other crimes.
BJP leader and MLA Arvind Bellad also visited the Ambiger house. Niranjan Hiremath, father of Neha Hiremath, who was brutally murdered in Hubballi, was present during the visit.
‘Unprecedented corruption’
Mr. Bellad said that there is unprecedented corruption in the Police Department for getting postings and transfers of choice. This is the main reason for the rise in crime, he added.
The police officers are colluding with the criminal elements and pay politicians to get transfers to their desired places. Cases of ganja and indiscriminate alcohol consumption are increasing in Hubballi-Dharwad. Strict action should be taken against such activities, he said.
He also sought a more transparent transfer policy that will post officers to districts other than their own.
He demanded that the State government provide security to the Ambiger family and allot them a house under a government scheme.
