An assistant commissioner of police (ACP) and a head constable posted in the Central Crime Branch (CCB) has been suspended for leaking information to the associates of people arrested in the drugs scandal.
M R Mudhavi, who heads the women protection wing, and head constable Mallikarjun of Special Inquiry Squad are the suspended officers. Confirming the development, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil said: “During the inquiry, it was found that Mudhavi was in contact with some associates of the accused and leaking information on the drugs case investigation. He wasn’t part of the core investigating team.”
CCB sources said Mudhavi was in touch with associates of party organiser Viren Khanna. The officer gave his phone to Khanna to call them up when Khanna was in police custody. The officer was updating the moves of the investigating officers to the accused persons. Mallikarjun was also involved in leaking information.
When Mudhavi recently tipped off an associate of the suspect about an investigating officer’s movement, the receiver had recorded it and forwarded the audio clip to Mallikarjun to crosscheck if the information was true.
On suspicion, senior officials checked Mallikarjun’s phone and found the audio clip. Both Mudhavi and Mallikarjun had called the associates of the accused many times. A departmental inquiry is underway.
A press statement from city police said officers kept a watch on the staff as the investigation was not proceeding to their expectation. An inquiry by Patil found that information on the investigation was being leaked to the suspects. Besides slowing down the investigation, this was also a breach of trust for the police.
Mallikarjun was placed under suspension, while a report was sent to police commissioner Kamal Pant and the state government regarding Mudhavi, who was suspended on Wednesday evening. In 2009, the then commissioner of police Shankar M Bidari suspended Mudhavi after the Lokayukta police caught him accepting bribe for renewing licence to a gaming centre. Mudhavi got bail and resumed duty in the same station.