Karnataka   

Murder: police find BPO company guilty of lapse

Staff Reporter

Prathiba could have been saved if the firm had acted on an alert

BANGALORE: Bangalore Police Commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh on Saturday said that preliminary investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Prathiba Murthy, an employee of HP e-Global, the BPO outfit of Hewlett-Packard, revealed that there was a "lapse" on the part of the company.

"There is a security lapse on the part of company but they cannot be made a party to the crime," Dr. Singh told presspersons.

Explaining the circumstances that pointed to the lapse, the commissioner said that after the accused Shiva Kumar picked up Prathiba in his vehicle, the regular driver Jagadish contacted her on her mobile phone.

After Prathiba told him that some other driver had already picked her up, Jagadish immediately contacted the BPO's "desk" and informed the staff about it, Dr. Singh said. Later, when Prathiba's uncle Sreenivasa contacted the BPO, the staff there told him that she had not turned up for work, though they were aware that she was picked up by the driver of a vehicle that was on lease to the company, he said.

Dr. Singh said the police were yet to ascertain what action the staff at the desk had taken after Jagadish informed them that some other driver had picked up Prathiba.

Some senior police officials are of the view that there could have been a chance of saving Prathiba had the staff at the company's desk acted immediately after Jagadish alerted them.

Dr. Singh said a meeting of the heads of BPOs/call centres situated in the South division, which has a concentration of IT firms, had been convened on December 20.

In a related development, Director-General and Inspector-General of Police B.S. Sial said he had advised the Police Commissioner to take certain steps to ensure safety of the women staff of BPOs.

At a separate press conference, Mr. Sial said the city police had been told to obtain addresses, telephone numbers and employee details of all the call centres/BPOs. Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh has directed Dr. Singh to hold discussions with the managements of BPO firms and provide suitable security for the staff of these firms. A large number of call centre employees staged a protest near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Saturday against the rape and murder of Prathiba. The held aloft placards demanding death for the accused.

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