Karnataka Lokayukta P Vishwanatha Shetty was stabbed multiple times by a knife-wielding youth who managed to walk into his office in full view raising serious security concerns. Despite a thick suit which Justice Shetty was wearing, he suffered one punctured rib, a cut on the chest, thigh, hand and a shallow cut on the stomach.
The grisly incident throws up several questions on why security to the ombudsman was compromised especially when the government knows that the chair is probing high-profile and sensitive cases, including those of corruption involving politicians across the spectrum.
The ombudsman who is a diabetic and has a history of bypass surgery took over as Lokayukta in January 2017 and was at the centre of controversy over allegations that his family owns multiple properties. The attacker, one Tejas Sharma is a contractor from Tumakuru region and had some complaints registered with the Lokayukta, which he believed were not being addressed
It’s a shame for the Karnataka government that security to the Lokayukta was virtually non-existent. The metal detectors and security equipment were non-functional and there were no security guards at the office at that time. It only goes to see how irresponsible and callous the government of Karnataka has been with regards to the office of Lokayukta. It cannot get any worse.
On the contrary, there should have been heightened security to the Lokayukta given the fact that he had faced threats earlier.
Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah has assured action and initiated a probe, but that’s about fixing responsibilities. When there were closed-circuit television cameras monitoring the premises, why was the accused not tracked? How was a visitor allowed to walk inside the chamber without any frisking? Metal detectors cannot be full proof security systems. Surprisingly, the second layer of security failed and the accused managed to sneak inside with a knife following proper protocol of even making an entry in the log book before entering the chamber.
This case should be an eye-opener to other States too where security to such high ranking posts have been ignored. The floodgates to a political blame-game have just opened in poll-bound Karnataka and CM Siddaramaiah has given enough ammunition to the BJP to fire at him. Just at a time when the BJP was scouting for issues to pin the ruling Congress, this came on a platter.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will have to take responsibility for this security breach and there can’t be any excuses on this. Congress cannot take solace in the decline in crime numbers that have been projected against those during the BJP rule.
