Yashpal claims college administrative officer silencing student witnesses in Udupi voyeurism incident
Udupi MLA Yashpal Suvarna on Wednesday alleged that the administrative officer of Netra Jyothi Institute of Allied Health Sciences was attempting to hush up the voyeurism case by threatening students of the college.
Mr Suvarna told reporters at Udupi that the officer, Abdul Khader, had kept marks cards of students who had raised their voices about the incident to silence them. He had also told them that they would not get employment if a police case was registered and neither could they go abroad for work, he alleged.
The MLA also claimed some students have disclosed to him about similar incidents in the college in the past.
Responding to the allegations, Mr. Khader told The Hindu he was not the administrative officer of the college, but a business development officer at Prasad Netralaya, whose management runs the college.
He had not visited the college on July 18, the day on which the alleged incident happened and on July 19. He went there when students were in protest on July 20 and informed the management; he did not speak to the students. He never indulged in threatening students, Mr Khader said.
Mr Suvarna further claimed the fathers of the three accused girls were active members of the now-banned Popular Front of India. The MLA has informed this to the Superintendent of Police.
The MLA said he has confidence in the investigating officer of the case, Kundapur DySP K.U. Belliappa, and hoped that he would render justice to the victims.
“We have submitted whatever documents we had to the officer”.
Meanwhile, all the five MLAs from the Udupi district will meet the Governor on August 4 and seek a special investigation probe after apprising him of the seriousness of the issue, Mr Suvarna said.
With the police continuing the probe, it was learnt that the FSL experts have sought time till August 25 to submit the report on the mobile phones of the accused. However, the police have sought an early report.
The police were also verifying whether the accused girls had any other intention other than indulging in pranks.
The police have also reportedly seized the mobile phones of the main contacts of the accused to verify whether the voyeurism videos were shared by the accused with them.
