RTI activist who contested Karnataka polls dies in police custody, kin cry foul
Davanagere Superintendent of Police K Arun said the case will be handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
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Harish Halli, a RTI activist, who was a resident of Kabbala village under the Channagiri taluk was arrested for reportedly forging documents early Sunday. (Representational Image/File) A Right to Information (RTI) activist, who was arrested for reportedly forging documents early Sunday, allegedly died while trying to escape from the police in Karnataka’s Davangere district. The police have claimed the deceased, identified as H R Harish Halli, ran out of an official vehicle he was being transported in and jumped from a bridge, and died.
However, his family expressed suspicion over the role of the police.
Harish Halli, 40, was a resident of Kabbala village under the Channagiri taluk. He had contested the recent Karnataka Assembly elections as an Independent candidate from the Channagiri constituency and secured 470 votes. He also ran a real estate firm.
Harish had been accused of forging documents for a residential site. The police, who arrested him early Sunday, said that around 2.30 am, he escaped from the police jeep and jumped off a bridge. Harish was seriously injured and taken to a hospital. However, he did not respond to treatment and died, said a police officer.
Staging a protest at the hospital, Harish’s family alleged that three police personnel were behind his death. In her complaint, Harish’s wife said Gandhinagar police station Sub-Inspector Krishnappa, Constable Devaraj, and driver Irshad came to their house around 1 am on Sunday and arrested him. “By 4.30 am, I received a call stating that my husband was admitted to a hospital and was in a critical condition,” she said.
Davanagere Superintendent of Police K Arun said the case will be handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). “We have registered a case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and as he (Harish) died in police custody, the case will be handed over to the CID.”
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