Tusks missing from SP’s office found in same office

Shivamogga: Nearly a year after a pair of elephant tusks went missing from the office of the Superintendent of Police it was found in the record room of the same office on Tuesday, February 26.

While cleaning the record room of the office of the Superintendent of Police here the ivory was found wrapped in a newspaper informed Superintendent of Police Dr M Ashwini.

He further added that the tusks were last seen in a photograph taken in 2007. They were mounted on a wall and used as decorative pieces in the SP’s chamber.  Their absence was discovered when a meeting was convened to hand over the valuable stone sculptures, used to beautify the SP’s office, to the museum developed by the Department of Archaeology of Kuvempu University. 

It may be called after the issue came to light, the then SP Abhinav Khare ordered a departmental enquiry headed by Additional Superintendent of Police, Muthuraj, into the case, Additional Director General of Police, Kamal Pant, had also rushed to the city and recalled that the tusks were kept in the room when he served as the Shivamogga SP as well.

Following the incident, two police personnel were suspended, and a case was registered with the Doddapete police.

The case was later handed over to the then Hosanagar Circle Inspector Manjunath. When Manjunath said a detailed inquiry was required, the police sought a CID probe. The DG&IGP wrote a letter to the CID on January 1, 2019 directing it to probe the case.