Mangaluru: “Madhukar Shetty was a honest IPS officer and I had an opportunity to work with Shetty for two years”, recalled former Lokayukta Justice Dr. Santhosh Hegde on Tuesday, January 8.
Addressing the gathering during the public condolence meeting remembering Late Madhukar Shetty organised by the ‘Bantara Yane Nadavara Sangha’ at the auditorium of Ramakrishna College near Bunts Hostel, Hegde said, “I have learnt so much from Madhukar Shetty as he was a honest and sincere officer. However, there is no scope for honesty in the present society. Shetty was forced to live with repeated transfers as he was a strict officer”, he said.
Hegde recalled the sincere work by Shetty when he was the Superintendent of Police in Chikkamagaluru district. “Within a short span, he won the hearts of locals by clamping down on illegal activities and acting against rich planters who had encroached upon government lands. As former DC of Chikkamagaluru Harsha Gupta and SP Madhukar Shetty cleared the encroachment of lands by rich people and handed them over to the Scheduled Class community in a small village near Aldur in Mudigere taluk has been named Gupta-Shetty Halli. It is a classic example of the honest and sincere work by Madhukar Shetty. I am deeply saddened by the demise of an honest police officer. My condolences are with his family”, he said.
Former Indian Ambassador Balakrishna Shetty, while addressing the gathering, said, “Though Shetty had passed IAS examination, his zeal for social service made him to become an IPS officer. Due to his honest work, he had won the hearts of millions”, he said.
Meanwhile, Bantara Yane Nadavara Sangha President Ajith Kumar Rai Maladi announced that annual ‘Madhukar Shetty award’ will be conferred on those who engage in social service to commemorate the Shetty’s death.
Prior to the condolence meeting, guests at the programme offered floral tribute to the portrait of Madhukar Shetty. Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath, Mayor Bhaskar K, A J Hospital and Research Center Managing Director A J Shetty among others also spoke on the occasion and condoled the death of Madhukar Shetty.
