Narayan Venkappa Baramani, Additional Superintendent of Police, Dharwad, has submitted a request for voluntary retirement from his service. In a three-page letter, he has requested VRS, saying he was “insulted” by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during a Congress rally in April.

The Karnataka State Police service officer joined the force as a sub-inspector in 1994. He has a few more years left in service.

There have been rumours that he has political ambitions and that he is an aspirant for the BJP ticket from Belagavi North or Belagavi Rural Assembly constituency. He, however, has denied these rumours.

In his letter seeking VRS, he has narrated the incident in Belagavi when he was posted for security arrangements for the Congress rally on April 28. He has stated that the Chief Minister “tried to slap” him, holding him responsible for the law and order situation when a few women in the crowd displayed black flags and shouted slogans. “The Chief Minister got angry and tried to slap me. I took a step back to escape from the assault. But I could not escape the humiliation in public, though I had not committed any mistake,” he said, citing how TV channels had broadcast this incident for two days. “Neither the CM nor any senior officer called me to console me,” he said further, stating this had hit his morale.

“By his behaviour, the Chief Minister not only reduced my morale but also the morale of all government servants in Karnataka. I have been a disciplined officer and remained committed to public service. I have the same respect for my mother and the department. But I have faced humiliation for months for no fault of mine. I speak for all government servants in and out of uniform. I have no other way, but to submit the VRS application,” the letter said.

Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP has appealed to Mr. Baramani to withdraw his VRS application. In a social media post, BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra said the general public, and the BJP would offer him moral support.

Mr. Baramani’s was suspended in 2008 after the Karnataka Lokayukta had found he had accumulated disproportionate assets. However, he was exonerated in a departmental inquiry on merit and reinstated. The district court in Bagalkot dismissed the case against him in 2017, saying the investigation officers had erred in the estimation of the value of assets, among other reasons. The Karnataka High Court upheld this order in 2022.