Mangaluru: Quite a lot of eyebrows were raised when the news of sandalwood theft from the residence of Inspector General of Police (Western Range) had hit headline. It has been a month since the news of the same came out. Since then there has been no development in terms of probe, which is making way for more suspicion, specifically pointing at involvement of the policemen.

Theft in the residence of an IG rank police officer is not an easy task, given the fact that there are several ‘Men in Khakhi’ guarding the residence. In such a case, the instance of five sandalwood trees worth Rs two lakh being stolen from the IGP’s bungalow located at Maryhill in the city, which is surrounded by compound wall and is tightly guarded by 15 policemen was not just shocking but also shameful.

Despite such security in place five sandalwood trees were axed and transported swiftly.

The theft occurred on July 28 when Harishekharan was serving as the IGP. However, it came to light when the present IGP Hemant Nimbalkar took charge here and a case was filed at Kavoor police station.

It is now felt that police personnel themselves may be involved in the theft as it would be very difficult for outsiders to have carried out such an operation without getting noticed. Further, they may have been a safe period, especially when one IGP was shifting out of the residence and the new IGP was about to come in. The thieves may have put this sense of ‘void’ in the house to their best use.

Interestingly, though the incident is a month old now investigations in the case have not yet begun nor has the case been transferred to the forest department further fueling suspicions.