Sasikala jail bribery charge: Two senior officers shunted out

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government on Monday transferred two top jail officials who were locked in a bitter public spat over allegations of “special” treatment to AIADMK (Amma) leader V K Sasikala and other “erroneous” practises in the central prison here.

DGP (Prisons) H N Sathyanarayana Rao and DIG (Prisons) D Roopa, who had brought him under a cloud of bribery allegations, were shifted with immediate effect.

The state government in a notification on Monday said that N S Megharikh, Additional Director General of Police, Anti-corruption Bureau, has been transferred with immediate effect and posted as Additional DGP, Prisons, in place of Rao.

It also said that Roopa has been posted as Deputy Inspector General of Police and Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety here.

However, the notification does not specify the post Rao has been been transferred to and who will replace Roopa.

In a report submitted on July 12 to Rao, who was DGP (Prisons) then, Roopa as Deputy Inspector of General (Prisons) had said there was “a talk” that Rs two crore had exchanged hands to give preferential treatment for Sasikala and there were allegations against him also.

She had also said that a special kitchen was functioning in the jail for Sasikala in violation of prison rules.

Sasikala is lodged at Parappana Agrahara central prison here ever since her conviction in February in the disproportionate assets case along with her two relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, all serving a four-year jail term.

Rao had rubbished the charge against him by Roopa, terming it “absolutely false, baseless and wild”, and said he would take legal recourse against his junior.

Responding to this, she had said “let there be a fair fact finding inquiry to find out the truth”.

As the clash between the top officers played out in public, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had ordered a high-level probe by a retired IAS officer into the alleged irregularities at the central prison and warned of “strict action” if anyone was found involved in wrong doing.

As her report triggered a major controversy, the red- faced Congress government also issued notice to Roopa asking her to explain her conduct, with Siddaramaiah saying it was “absolutely against the rule book”. Roopa had also highlighted in her report the “special treatment” being provided to fake stamp paper scam kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi.