Bengaluru: Banaswadi ACP 'slaps' JCB operator, halts BDA demolition drive

Bengaluru: A video, which purportedly shows Banaswadi Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Umashankar slapping a BDA worker, has gone viral on social media. 

The video, posted on X (formerly Twitter), shows the senior police officer slapping the BDA worker during a demolition drive carried out by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in HBR Layout on November 22. 

The Banaswadi ACP is alleged to have intervened to halt the operation to reclaim encroached government land, said a post by the Karnataka Portfolio handle. 

The post quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the ACP arrived at the scene, demanded that the officials visit the police station to produce additional documents, and reportedly assaulted the driver of a JCB machine involved in the operation. 

The post further claimed that the ACP abused the assembled crowd and forcibly took away the JCB’s keys, stalling the demolition work. 

While the ACP did not answer phone calls seeking a comment, a well-placed police source confirmed that the incident took place in Ramamurthy Nagar on November 22.