IPS officials demand probe into Umesh8217;s killing

HYDERABAD, SEPT 7: The deep resentment welling up among IPS officers ever since Umesh Chandra was assassinated on Saturday morning came t...

HYDERABAD, SEPT 7: The deep resentment welling up among IPS officers ever since Umesh Chandra was assassinated on Saturday morning came to the fore at a closed-door condolence meeting here on Monday, with some of them vociferously demanding for a judicial inquiry into the circumstances that led to the slain officer becoming an easy target of naxalites.

The judicial inquiry should go into such questions as why Umesh was continuing with a gunman who was dismissed from service, how a gunman declared 8220;deserter8221; by Warangal SP was carrying a weapon and escorting Umesh to his office located in the DGP office complex, why Umesh was not given Y8217; category security and who are the people responsible for this kind of treatment.

Umesh Chandra was cremated with full State honours at the Punjagutta crematorium.

According to sources, a majority of the speakers at the meeting held at the DGP office after the funeral did not mince words in denouncing the 8220;utter indifference8221; displayed by the State administration,as well as the top police brass, towards the security requirement of Umesh Chandra, though it was well-known that he was a prime target of the naxalites.

Some junior officers were, in fact, more vocal. In an indirect, but strident, attack against their senior colleagues, they were unanimous that 8220;rather than providing security to an young officer, they played politics with his career8221;.

Those working in the naxalite-infested Telangana region wanted the Government to provide necessary facilities, including residential accommodation, security personnel and transport, once they were shifted to non-focal postings in the city. Minimum scale of security should be provided to all officers, irrespective of the post and place where they work, they argued.

A condolence resolution adopted at the meeting, however, said that the dastardly killing of an young officer would not deter the State police from fighting subversive and anti-people forces.

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Earlier in the morning, Governor C Rangarajan and Director Generalof Police H J Dora faced some embarrassing moments when they visited the residence of the slain IPS officer, as members of the bereaved family, as well as policemen, bitterly complained that the State Government8217;s failure to provide sufficient cover to Umesh cost his life.