Hundreds of people belonging to the Koli (Kabbaliga) community blocked the main road outside the district administrative complex in Kalaburagi on Saturday demanding stringent action against police officers accused of being responsible for the suicide of one of their community members in the Madbool Police limits.
Unconvinced by the assurances given by the police and the administration, the persistent agitators continued the roadblock causing traffic disruptions and jams on the arterial road for an hour.
And, when their efforts to convince the agitators went in vain, the police detained the protesters and cleared the road for traffic movement.
The agitators said that Devanand Ramachandra Koraba, a youth from the Koli community, committed suicide by consuming poison after he was ruthlessly beaten and harassed by police officers and constables attached to Madbool Police Station on July 20, 2023, and no action has been taken against the accused so far.
“Circle Inspector Vinayak Rathod, Police Sub-Inspectors Vijay Rathod and Venkatesh, constables Jagannath Patil, Malgonda and Ramesh, Kalagurti residents Shivaraj Hadapad and Appanna Hadapad are responsible for the suicide of Devanand Koraba. However, the police excluded the names of the accused police officers in the First Information Report [FIR]. They have included the names of the residents of Kalagurti village as the accused. But no accused has been arrested. All of them are roaming freely and fearlessly threatening witnesses with lethal weapons. The Madbool Police are refusing to re-record the statement of the complainant,” a community leader said at the agitation site.
In a memorandum, addressed to the Governor, the agitators demanded that the names of the police officers involved in the incident be included as accused in the FIR and that they be suspended from service with immediate effect.
They demanded the immediate arrest of the accused mentioned in the FIR, compensation of ₹25 lakh to the family of the diseased, protection for the family of the deceased and witnesses in the case, a government job for a family member of the deceased on compassionate grounds and a judicial inquiry in the case.
