An IPS officer in Bengaluru has come under the scanner for allegedly interfering in the Bengaluru Safe City Project. The unnamed officer has been accused of making phone calls and sending emails to access classified information pertaining to the tendering process of the Bengaluru Safe City Project. Police officials have brought this to the notice of Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar and have sought an inquiry. The intervention from the officer was brought to their attention recently.
According to TOI, the woman IPS officer 'impersonated' the Home Secretary. She reportedly was not linked to the project and the Home Department, aware of the matter, is taking suitable steps.
However, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said, “The proposal was being drafted by an independent management consultancy we hired. They received a mail from a third-party asking about the details and they brought this to our notice. We further notified the government.”
“The motivation behind the said officer’s act is unknown. We can speak about it only after we have thoroughly investigated. The allegations have not been proven yet; once they are, we will initiate the necessary disciplinary action,” he added when asked about the inquiry and impending action against the said officer.
The selection process of the service provider for design, implementation and maintenance of the Safe City project is underway. When asked if this incident will impact the selection process, the Commissioner said, “The incident will bear no direct effect on the tendering process. We will be accepting the tenders in the month of January.” The findings from the inquiry will be notified to the government, he said.
Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar remained unavailable for comment.
While the report in TOI, and the Police Commissioner Kamal Pant did not name the IPS officer involved, Karnataka Home Secretary D Roopa IPS has come forward to state that these allegations are being made against her, adding that the charges of 'impersonation' are patently false as she is in fact the Home Secretary of the state. In a Twitter post on early Saturday morning, Roopa said that she had found irregularities in the tendering process, and in her power as Home Secretary, she decided to investigate the case. She added that she was in fact the whistleblower in the case, and was trying to expose irregularities to favour a private company, at the cost of a government company.
My whistle blowing in respect of Nirbhaya/safe-city project. pic.twitter.com/AySN4jH2xc
— D Roopa IPS (@D_Roopa_IPS) December 25, 2020
What is the Safe City Project?
The Safe City Project is an initiative of the Union government to make cities safer for women and children. The project will be carried out under the Nirbhaya Fund, a Rs 10 billion corpus announced by the Union government, under which CCTV cameras, panic buttons, surveillance systems will be installed, and crimes in cities will be mapped using geographic information system (GIS). The Union government is to bear 60% of the cost while the remaining 40% will be borne by respective state governments.
Note: This article was edited to reflect Home Secretary D Roopa's comments.