An RTI application filed by IPS Officer Roopa D seeking a copy of the inquiry report of alleged irregularities in the central prison in Bengaluru has been rejected by the state government.
Roopa was posted as DIG Prisons in Bengaluru when she was credited for her whistle-blowing act of pointing out that preferential treatment was being given to ousted AIADMK leader VK Sasikala, among a number of other infractions at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru.
An inquiry report on this matter filed by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar is yet to be made public by the state government.
“I had filed an RTI and they have given me a reply in writing saying the report is under examination. I had asked for the copy of the inquiry report filed by Vinay Kumar. He has already given a report so I had asked for it and they have replied saying it is under examination,” said Roopa D, speaking to TNM.
The officer said that she had never expected that the authorities would reject her RTI. "I have asked them again, but they told me to wait. I had filed the RTI a month ago. I will now go for appeal," she said.
In the fall out of the incident, the former Director General of Prisons HN Satyanarayana Rao slapped Roopa with a Rs 20 crore defamation suit. Roopa was also transferred to the Traffic and Road Safety Department while Satyanarayana later retired.
Roopa is fighting a defamation suit for which she believes the details of the inquiry report could come in handy.
“I don’t know when they will give. I have appealed. Let me see. The defamation suit hearing is coming up on February 16 and this report will definitely help to a great extent,” she said.
Roopa also denied that she spoke anything defamatory against Satyanarayana, stating, “I have never spoken in a defaming manner about that retired officer. I never told anywhere that he took money or any such things. I said these things are happening and money has exchanged hands and it requires deeper investigation.”