Karnataka ombudsman recovering from stab attack: Doctor

Karnataka Lokayukta Justice P. Vishwanatha Shetty, who was stabbed multiple times by a complainant on Wednesday afternoon, is recovering and will stay in the hospital for another week, a senior doctor from the hospital said on Friday.

"Justice Shetty has been operated upon for his stab wounds and is recovering. He is likely to be kept in the hospital for another week," chief cardiac surgeon at Mallya Hospital Divakar Bhat told IANS here.

Shetty, 73, was stabbed by a 33-year-old complainant, Tejraj Sharma, on Wednesday afternoon and was rushed to Mallya Hospital in the city centre. The attacker was immediately nabbed by police.

"A police team led by Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) N. Satheesh Kumar is probing the incident of attack on Justice Shetty. I am expecting the report soon," Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy tweeted on Friday.

Sharma, a furniture supplier from Tumakuru, about 70 km northwest from here, had filed a complaint with the anti-graft official about a local government office, according to the police.

"He was allegedly unhappy that his complaint was not being heard. This could have been the motive for the attack," city Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar had earlier said.

A few days before the incident took place, Shetty had advised the accused not to "squabble" in the Lokayukta office, the Home Minister said.

After the attack, the Home Minister on Thursday had suspended the Deputy Commissioner of Police Yogesh for "lapse in security".

Shetty was earlier a judge in the Karnataka High Court and had also practised in the Supreme Court. He had taken charge as the state's ombudsman in January 2017.

--IANS

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