Mangalore, May 17: A case has been slapped against Srinivas Padakannaya and his wife Swati for misguiding the police, said Seemanth Kumar Singh, Mangalore Police Commissioner.
Addressing mediapersons at a press conference at his office in the city on Thursday, Mr. Singh said that Swati had misled the police stating that her husband had slipped into Phalguni river from his two wheeler. Padakannaya too had given false information to Padmavathi Hospital in Surathkal as per the directions of his wife, stating that he had been attacked by three people who had come in a Tata Sumo car and taken him out of the river. It appears that he had shaved his head to hide his identity during these days, the Commissioner said.
During investigation the police found that Padakannaya had incurred losses in his share business. It was also found that Padakannaya had drawn Rs. 700 from SBI ATM at Sringeri on May 12 and Rs. 100 from SBI ATM at Murdeshwar. ATM Camera footages also showed Mr. Padakannaya drawing money. When Padakannaya was questioned about this, he spilled the beans and revealed to the police that whatever he and his wife had done was all a drama after having got scared by the financial losses that incurred, Mr. Singh said.
In spite of search operations at the river, police had got no clue for 4 days. The behavior of Ms. Swati and her parents had aroused suspicions as they were not cooperating with the police in investigation. They were instead threatening to file a case against us. Besides, the very explanation that Padakannaya had slipped into the river seemed suspicious to us and we went ahead with our investigation accordingly, Mr. Singh said.
A case has been booked against the four accused (Padakannaya, Swati, and her parents). “I find it shocking that people can stoop to this level. If they can cheat the police, they can cheat anyone and we suspect that they might have cheated others too”, Mr. Singh said.
He also clarified on the occasion that police had not demanded money from Padakannaya, as was said in a section of the media quoting Padakannaya. “On questioning, he (Padakannaya) denied that he had given any such statement to the media”, Mr.Singh said.
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