Mangaluru : City Police Commissioner M. Chandra Sekhar has defended his team of officials who were involved in tracing Naresh Shenoy, the prime accused in the murder of RTI activist Vinayak Baliga, and said that they took over three months to search him as he was on the move since March 21.

“We know that the people have some expectations on us. They overrate our efficiency and expect immediate results,” he said at a press conference here on Sunday.

Mr. Sekhar said that the team of police officers worked hard to trace him as he was regularly shifting hideouts. The police had done whatever was humanly possible. “The investigation was proper and there are no lapses,” he said.

Mr. Sekhar said that his officers had ensured that those absconding did not stay at one place for more than a day. “The absconding accused were always on the move.” Mr. Sekhar said that they had also taken precautions to prevent them from fleeing the country.

Mr. Sekhar said that they were on the look out for Vignesh, a close associate for Naresh Shenoy, who needs to be questioned on certain issues.

Denying that the protests demanding the early arrest of Naresh Shenoy put undue pressure on them, Mr. Sekhar said that so far they had carried out a proper investigation. “We have redeemed ourselves by doing the investigation in a proper manner. We have laid to rest doubts and possible suspicions.” Doubts, he said, would continue to persist and he called upon people to feel free to raise them. “We will welcome protests so long as it is peaceful. If protests are intimidating, we will take all measures to curb it,” he added.

Mr. Sekhar commended the work by Deputy Commissioners of Police K.M. Shantaraju and Sanjeev M. Patil; Assistant Commissioner of Police K. Tilakchandra; inspectors Shantaram, Ravish Nayak, Rajesh, Valentine D’Souza and Maruti Nayak’ police sub-inspectors Shyam and police constable Rajendra. These personnel would be rewarded after the submission of the supplementary charge sheet.