In the latest development involving VIP treatment doled out to influential prisoners like VK Sasikala at the Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara jail, CM Siddaramaiah has asked the Anti-Corruption Bureau to further investigate the matter.
The ACB probe will be carried out as per the recommendations of retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar’s report on allegations made by former DIG (Prisons) Roopa IPS.
The ACB is expected to file a report in three months and also examine if both the officers flouted service rules.
Speaking to TNM, Roopa, IGP (Home Guard) said she remains hopeful of “getting justice” but says that “it is demoralising” at the same time that the government has denied her information from the Vinay Kumar report even after filing an RTI.
Denying allegations of violating service rules, “I have actually operated in an accountable and transparent manner which every public servant is supposed to. The newly inserted service rules in August, 2014 demands this, and I have spoken about the incident following just that,” Roopa told TNM.
“I have never made a critical comment on the government. The Supreme Court in a recent judgment held that bringing out maladministration is not equal to criticism of the government,”
She added, “If I had not exposed this, I would have also been framed as a part of this.”
Sources in the state Home Ministry, however, claimed that there might not be any real headway in the case.
“Maybe this is an election gimmick. Things are going on at the jail as they were. There has been no action. CCTVs, jammers do not work as in the past. The man who was working as a middleman when money changed hands is a close aide of the then Home Minister. So, I doubt if there will be any justice, since it is the same party in power,” a source told TNM.
“This may be to ensure that the issue is neutralised before the elections. ACB reports to the CM's office anyway,” the source added.
However, Vinay Kumar said, “What more can you expect? The government has taken cognizance of the report and given it to an independent agency to probe further,” but refused to divulge details of his report citing confidentiality terms.
Background
Then DIG (Prisons) IPS Officer Roopa D had blown the lid off an alleged bribery racket involving then DG (Prisons) IPS HNS Rao. Roopa’s allegations caused huge embarrassment to the state government.
Following this, both of them were shunted out of their positions even though Rao was due for retirement for the following day. Further, Rao filed a Rs 20 crore defamation complaint against Roopa. Roopa had alleged that Rao had taken a bribe of Rs 2 crore for favouring the likes of Sasikala and Telgi, the late fake stamp paper kingpin.