Weeks after Roopa Moudgil, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police from Karnataka alleged that AIADMK leader VK Sasikala was getting special treatment at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru, the officer received the President’s Medal for Meritorius Service on Saturday.
Roopa, who was the DIG Prisons at the time of 'exposing' special favours to Sasikala, received the medal at an event held at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru. She received the medal from the state's governor Vajubhai Vala.
Taking to Twitter, Roopa shared her happiness at being conferred the honour.
"Awards/medals are a humbling experience; a motivation to do better and an added responsibility," she tweeted.
Awards/medals are a humbling experience; a motivation to do better and an added responsibility .
— D Roopa IPS (@D_Roopa_IPS) September 16, 2017
Later speaking to Hindustan Times, Roopa said that receiving the award was "bittersweet", since she was the only woman officer to have been conferred the award on the day.
“It shows that there are few women in the force and we need many more... we need to now ensure that more women join the police force," she was quoted as saying.
In July this year, weeks after taking charge as the DIG of Prisons, Roopa had in a report alleged that VK Sasikala, who is serving her sentence at the Bengaluru prison after being convicted in the disproportionate assets case, was receiving preferential treatment. In her report submitted to the DGP, she also alleged that DGP (Prisons) Sathyanarayana Rao was also involved in it.
Soon after it blew up into a controversy, Roopa was transferred out to the Road and Safety department and an inquiry was ordered.