Police blame Airtel for wrong detention

PUNE: Police in Pune have washed their hands off the wrongful detention of a 26-year-old techie from Bangalore, blaming telecom major and Internet service provider Airtel for giving them incorrect information.

Lakshmana Kailash K. was picked up from Bangalore Aug 31 on the suspicion of having posted insulting images of Chhatrapati Shivaji on Internet networking site Orkut. He was brought to Pune and put behind bars. It was later found that he was innocent. 

The police will take up the matter with Airtel for providing misleading information that led to the wrongful arrest of Lakshmna, Assistant Commissioner of Police Netaji Shinde told IANS.

"We did our investigations on the IP address provided to us by Airtel. It is not our fault and Lakshmana should take Airtel to court and not us," he said.

While media reports said Lakshmana was released only three weeks after the real culprits were arrested, police maintained that the techie was not held longer than required.

Airtel has not yet offered any clarification on the matter.