Cop shunted out after exposing VIP treatment to Sasikala in jail
bengaluru — The Karnataka government on Monday transferred Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Prisons D. Roopa, days after she charged convict AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala with bribing officials for VIP treatment in the Bengaluru jail.
The government also shunted out Director-General of Police (Prisons) H.N. Satyanarayana Rao without a fresh posting as he is set to retire this month-end. Roopa and Rao were engaged in a public spat over the alleged privileges given to Sasikala.
An order from the Department of Personnel said that Roopa, an Indian Police Service officer of the 2000 Karnataka batch), had been “transferred with immediate effect”. She has been posted as DIG and Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety in Bengaluru in place of A.S.N. Murthy, who will now be Additional Director of Police, Forest Cell, Bengaluru.
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 Rs20 million 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”. —