Police Speak Out on Encounter With Rajiv: “He Set Dogs and Spat on Us”
A number of police officers were yesterday admitted at Mulago Referral Hospital after Rajiv Ruparelia, the controversial son of businessman Sudhir Ruparelia, unleashed tough dogs on them.
It all started when Rajiv waved down Counter terrorism policemen who were being deployed for their daily duties at the residence of Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda along Kololo Hill, Kololo, Kampala. The Ruparelia’s are neighbors of the deputy governor.
Rajiv and his wife Naiya, were walking with their four bulldogs when they waved down the deployment van.
The van driver stopped to listen to Rajiv but to his surprise, Sudhir’s son started hurling insults and reportedly spat in the driver’s face.
“On our way to work this morning, the son to Sudhir, Rajiv Ruparelia stopped us and spat at our driver Haruna,” one of the cops told Chimpreports.
“We got out of the car to intervene. However, the guy (Rajiv) released his dogs to bite us. So we went to Kira Road police station to open a case.”
According to information shared by Rajiv’s associates on social media, the youthful businessman wanted to ask why the car was driving at a high speed in a residential suburb.
“I stopped to tell them that it was not safe for anybody to ride this fast on a residential road. I and my dogs were walking and I asked why an individual must drive this recklessly on a residential road,” Rajiv is quoted as saying.
He added: “I requested in a simple way but an officer angrily said to me that this is not India, this is Uganda. The police officer was not in an identified police vehicle, it was a private car. Based on that I had no idea that this was police.”
A source in the leafy area, told Chimpreports that, “we know these vans which drop off police guards every day. This is a VIP area.
The source who has lived in Kololo and owns several properties there, added: “These police guards are actually friendly. We never had issues with them. Whenever there is an incident, the police are always swift in response. Secondly, there is a corner on this lane, so you can’t say someone was driving at a break-neck speed. VIP vehicles are always fast but not on this lane.”
Police speaks out
Police say the law enforcers were defending themselves against Mr Ruparelia who reportedly let his dogs attack them after a heated verbal exchange with them.
Kampala Metropolitan Police Deputy Spokesperson, Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, said that as the cops listened to Mr Ruparelia, who had stopped their car, he let his dogs attack them.
“The preliminary information we have is two-sided and we can’t make conclusions. I can’t deny that our officers abused him nor can I deny that the officers were acting in self-defense. We will conclude when we interview the two parties,” Mr Owoyesigyire said.
He said that a case of rush and negligence against Mr Ruparelia, has been registered by the police officers who are attacked to Bank of Uganda.
He said that Mr Ruparelia is free to report to police and register a racial profiling and assault case against the police officers.
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