Sharan Pumpwell evades arrest, but available on mobile phone!

Mangalore, August 18: The police appear to have adopted a “go slow” approach when it came to tracing the district chief of Bajrang Dal, Sharan Pumpwell, who has been evading arrest ever since he was booked over the attack on the revellers at a Ullal resort over the last weekend.

Mr. Pumpwell is one among the 24 accused against whom the Ullal police have filed cases. But the leader remains at large despite him being in regular touch with his local cadre and accessible on his usual mobile number.

Interestingly, City Commissioner of Police Seemant Kumar Singh had described Mr. Pumpwell as “absconding” but police seem to have made hardly any effort to trace him. The suspected criminal seems to be least bothered about the efforts going on to trace him which is evident by the fact that he has not even bothered to switch off his mobile phone.

When tried to contact him for his reaction by a couple of journalists, Mr. Pumpwell did indeed answer the call. When the issue was brought to the notice of the commissioner, he just said that it was unusual, but refused to give any timeframe for apprehending the fugitive.

It is a common knowledge that a person's whereabouts could be easily tracked if he is using his mobile phone, provided the phone was within tower range and was not switched off. Whenever a suspected criminal goes underground, the police use this as the primary method to follow him.

One person was grievously injured and several others sustained minor injuries as they were assaulted allegedly by Bajrang Dal activists who barged into a private party here early on Sunday.

Around 25 people were present at the party organised at the Maharani Farmhouse here at Someshwar on Saturday night. Caretaker Dayanand Poojary and his wife were asleep on the upper floor while the party was held on the lower floor.

Sharan Pumpwell is among several others who have been accused of beating up party-goers and damaging property on August 14 under the pretext of crackdown on drug abuse.

Police have booked cases against Dal activists like Dinesh, Munna, Kunta Ganesh Kumpala, Bharath Thokkottu, Udaya, Pushparaj Shetty and others. The injured are the farmhouse care taker Dayanand, Swaroop, Sandesh, Mithun, Rahul, Raghunath and others.