Madikeri: A Police Head Constable in Kodagu is in soup after a complaint was lodged against him with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The Head Constable had accepted Rs. 20,000 bribe from a planter after threatening to file a false complaint against him.

The incident occurred at Virajpet Rural Police Station and the Head Constable has been identified as Praveen, who had taken Rs. 20,000 from planter Kattera P. Somanna, a resident of Arameri Village near Virajpet.

One Suresh Naika, a mason from Periyapatna, was working at the bathroom behind Somanna’s house. Suresh Naika accidentally fell from the 5-ft bathroom wall while he was cementing a portion. He was immediately rushed to a hospital where he breathed his last.

Following his death, a case of accident was registered at the Virajpet Rural Police Station based on the complaint filed by Suresh Naika’s father Mahadeva Naika. Somanna, on humanitarian grounds, paid Rs. 50,000 compensation to Suresh Naika’s family and also gave Rs. 20,000 towards hospital and funeral expenses.  

Meanwhile, Head Constable Praveen telephoned Somanna and summoned him to the Police Station where he was told that a criminal case will be booked against him if he did not “give a gift” to his (Praveen’s) higher officer. And he would have to face the law for years if he did not pay up. Sensing the danger of an imminent criminal case, despite paying the victim’s family a compensation for the accidental death, Somanna paid Head Constable Praveen Rs. 20,000 to save himself from the Police torture.

Returning home after paying the bribe, Somanna lodged an online complaint with the Grievances Redressal Portal of the PMO, New Delhi and narrated the whole bribery incident. Following PMO’s intervention, the Head Constable quietly returned Rs. 20,000 to Somanna.