Mangalore, October 12: Though a suspect in the brutal rape and murder case of a 17-year-old girl in Dharmasthala has reportedly admitted the crime, police have called him “mentally ill”.
The development has caused outrage among the public, who demanded the police to hand over the suspect identified as Santosh Bajagoli to them “instead of entertaining his drama”.
Inspector General of Police Pratap Reddy told media persons on Friday evening that Santosh was taken into custody by the police only for interrogation following a group of people caught hold of him. “However he was not yet arrested” he clarified.
Mr Reddy said that during interrogation Santosh did not behave like a normal man. “He seems to be mentally ill and he has been taken to a hospital for treatment. After discussing with doctors, police will continue to interrogate him”, he said.
He also urged the people to maintain peace and support the police to carry out investigation in a right direction.
The police had taken Santosh into custody on Thursday after the public thrashed him, suspecting him to be the accused. It is learnt that he had confessed to raping the girl.
Confrontation
Enraged over the tardy progress of the investigation, two groups of people on Friday reportedly confronted with police in Belthangady, demanding them to handover the suspect back to the public.
Police had to resort baton charge when hundreds of people gheraoed Belthangady police station. A few people also reportedly pelted stones at a police jeep.
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