Mangaluru: City-based Cable network operator Stephen Mendes has alleged that the sleuths of Pandeshwar Police Station physically assaulted him on Monday when he approached the police to file a criminal complaint against another cable operator for ‘destroying the cable control room’.
Speaking to the reporters on Tuesday, Mendes said instead of registering a First Information Report (FIR), the police dragged me out of my car and attacked me. They threatened to remand me in the police custody and register a false imprisonment against me’, he rued.
Narrating the incident, Mendes said, “On November 4, Prashanth Suvarna, one of my partner in SATCOM Cable Club, which is at Attavar, came to the office, asking permission to obtain signal from Asia Net Satellite Communication. When I denied it, Prashanth accused me with abusive words offering threat to my life. On Sunday, when we were not in the office, Prashanth along with others broke the lock and stole all the materials and destroyed it”, he said claiming that there are photos and video footage to prove his point.
Later, when I approached Pandeshwar police station to lodge a complaint of theft, with all necessary documents, Sub Inspector Dinakar Shetty was not ready to accept it stating it as civil case and refused to file an FIR. “We have no faith in the police, hence I requested the District-in charge minister B. Ramanath Rai to look into the issue”, he said.
Mendes also alleged that Prashanth and his wife were given a red carpet treatment in the Pandeshwar Police Station, while we were asked to wait for hours, without conducting a clean enquiry, he said.
In addition to it, Mendes said that in the partnership firm, a single partner has no right to change the signal of the cable on his own or take away the things from the office. He alleged that Prashanth has removed cable connection from 1200 customers of Attavar.
However, sources in the police said Stephen Mendes was annoyed when he was not given special treatment, as expected by him. “We have registered complain lodged by Stephen and Prasthanth”, the police said.
