On 13 April, a five-year-old girl was abducted and killed in Hubballi. CCTV footage showed accused Ritesh Kumar luring her with sweets while she played outside her mother’s workplace
Published Apr 14, 2025 | 11:15 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 14, 2025 | 11:15 PM
senior police officer to probe the encounter killing in Hubballi(Representational pic)
Synopsis: Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwar announced that a senior police officer will probe the alleged encounter killing of Ritesh Kumar, accused in the abduction and murder of a five-year-old girl in Hubballi. No inquiry committee will be formed. Congress leader Santosh Lad visited injured officers involved in the encounter.
In a significant development, Home Minister, G Parameshwar has said that a senior officer of Karnataka Police Department will probe the alleged encounter killing of Ritesh Kumar (35) accused in abduction and killing of a five-year-old girl in Hubballi.
The Home Minister’s office confirmed to South First that there will be no enquiry committee formed to look into the encounter killing. Earlier, in the press meet held today, Parameshwar said, “A senior officer will be appointed to investigate this encounter and find out the exact facts on this. We will look into the reports.”
Congress leader and Minister in charge of Hubballi-Dharwad district, Santosh Lad visited KIMS hospital today. He spoke to the three officers including PSI Annapoorna, and two other male officers who were injured during the encounter of accused, Ritesh Kumar.
On 13 April, a five-year-old girl was abducted and killed in the Ashok Nagar Police Station Limits in Hubballi. A CCTV video had also gone viral of the accused Ritesh Kumar picking up the girl where she was playing. As per the details of police, she was playing in front of the house where her mother worked as a domestic help. The accused lured her by giving some sweets. He is seen running away with the girl in the video.
However, it is not clear if the police killed the accused in an encounter after extreme pressure from the public. On Sunday, after the girl was murdered and her body was shifted to KIMS hospital, hundreds of residents from Adyapak Nagar had gathered in the premises of the police station. They even staged a dharna demanding justice from the police. Some of them had even demanded to hand over the accused to the public and they would punish him.
Even when the police commissioner visited KIMS hospital on Sunday night to meet the injured officers, people shouted slogans in appreciation of Shashi Kumar. ‘Shashi Kumar sahebrige jai’ were the exact slogans raised by the public.
In November 2019, a 26-year-old veterinary doctor was gang raped and killed in Shamshabad near Hyderabad. Later, the four accused were killed in an encounter when they were taken for recreation of the crime scene. A judicial enquiry commission was also formed to investigate the encounter killings.
When asked by the police commissioner if someone from the family of an accused has come forward to claim the body, the commissioner kept informing the media, “We have tried to reach out to his acquaintances and to the family. It will take some time.”
The South First Correspondent even tried to verify independently by calling Ashok Nagar police officials about the whereabouts of Ritesh Kumar’s family members. An official responded saying, “The case is under investigation and we can’t reveal anything now.”
Shashi Kumar who spoke to the media today morning after inspecting the spot where the encounter killing took place, said, “You can see there are abandoned buildings surrounding the Rayanal bridge in the outskirts of the city. During interrogation, the accused had stated that he was living in one of these abandoned buildings. When they brought him here to collect the evidence like Aadhar card and others, he tried to assault our officers and escape. He also pelted stones at our police car. As self defence, our officers first fired in the air to scare him but despite that when he did not stop, he was shot in the leg and then in the back.”
However, when the commissioner gave his first video byte to the media on Sunday night after the encounter, there seems to be confusion as to where the incident had taken place. In the video byte, the commissioner is seen mentioning the place of incident to have taken place in Tharihal cross in the outskirts.
Speaking to the media, Santosh Lad said, “This is a very inhuman act. Such mentality of torturing a child has made the entire society put down their head in shame. I visited the hospital and I couldn’t bear to look at the dead girl. Both police and public have acted immediately in this issue.”
When asked if the accused was under the influence of drugs, the minister said, “We are not sure of it as we don’t have any information on it. Only after the post mortem, we are likely to get these details.”
The minister further said, “I will discuss with the CM about the compensation he provided. Already, Congress leader, Saleem Ahmed has announced yesterday about providing ten lakhs by the CM and Karnataka government. MLA, Zameer Ahmed Khan has also ensured to provide a house for the family. However I believe it’s our social responsibility to take care that such incidents don’t repeat. I have also discussed with the police commissioner about installing CCTV cameras at secluded places here in Hubballi to ensure these incidents don’t repeat.”
Home Minister G Parameshwara has also ensured that the government would definitely take measures on criminal activities involving people from other states. He said, “We cannot stop the workforce coming to Karnataka from other states. But I understand there is a definite need to take note of criminal activities involving them and take measures against it.”
He informed that he would hold a meeting of Home and Labour departments along with Labour Minister, Santosh Lad. “We will discuss the measures that have to be taken on the increasing number of crimes involving migrant labourers from other states,” the minister said.
Dr Nagalakshmi Choudhary, President of state women’s commission, questioned what kind of safety measures the police department has taken in this particular locality in Hubballi. Speaking to South First, she said, “I am going to meet the parents as well as police commissioner. As per the information that I have, there are a lot of migrant workers living in the locality where the incident took place. I was also told, since it is a secluded place, its scary to walk after 7 pm. If these were the concerns earlier, then why did the police not take any steps to patrol the area regularly and keep a check on the activities here.”
She also said that parents must be extra cautious. “We know the kind of crimes that take place every day. In such times, as parents we must be extra cautious of our children, where they are playing, who they are talking to,” she said.
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
