UP cops don't understand Kannada of accused

Language barrier stalls ammo smuggling case probe

Language barrier stalls ammo smuggling case probe

A city police team that visited Uttar Pradesh (UP) to bring back suspected ammunition smugglers for further investigations had to return empty handed. The suspects allegedly supplied ammunition to Naxals and were nabbed by the Gorakhpur police last month.



The Gorakhpur police refused to give custody of the accused, as they have not yet been able to fully investigate the case. The problem is the Gorakhpur police can't understand the Kannada spoken by the accused, and so they simply have not been able to communicate with the arrested men.

The Mahalaxmi Layout police station is handling the case and wanted custody of the accused to find out links between the accused and their counterparts.

HOME OF ARRESTED: The Subramanya Nagar building in which Prakash, one of the accused, lived on rent before his arrest. Pic/Satish Badiger

According to the Mahalaxmi Layout police, the Gorakhpur police were unable to understand Kannada language and the accused feigned ignorance about knowing Hindi or English.

But a source revealed that the Gorakhpur police were not taking the case very seriously. "They are purposely delaying the case and slowly trying to close it because in this incident one security police constable was also involved," said the source.

The investigation ofu00a0 the Gorakhpur ammunition smuggling case has seen a dead end with the city police failing to get the custody of the accused.

However, in the city, Subramanyanagar police have succeeded in getting the addresses of the accused and their functions in city but they are yet to confirm whether they have any contacts with Naxalites.

The Case

ON January 26, 2010 Gorakhpur police caught four persons who were involved in smuggling 150 rounds of bullets of SLR and AK- 47 rifles at the railway station. At that time police assumed that they are supplying arms to Naxalites, and now their assumptions are nearing truth, it is learnt.

Out of the two accused, Stephen, owns a car and he used to rent it for various companies, while Prakash has a small finance company in city. The city police also visited the natives of the accused and got some information
but they refused to divulge any details.

The court has handed over the case to Mahalaxmi Layout police from Subramanyanagar.

One of the accused Prakash is residing in a rented house at Subramanyanagar for the past nine months.

Subramanyanagar police inspector, M S Shridhar, confirmed that the case has been handed over to the Mahalaxmi Layout police to protect the transparency and they are investigating it.

Mahalaxmi Layout police inspector Anil Kumar H R said, "We returned yesterday after spending eight days in Gorakhpur. Gorakhpur police didn't hand over the accused because they are investigating further details but they are facing language barrier. After their enquiry we will start looking into whether they have connection with banned groups."