NEW DELHI: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ordered a high-level probe into allegations made by Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) that AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala is being given special treatment inside Bengaluru jail. He tweeted, “We have taken serious cognizance of the allegation of irregularities in Bengaluru Central Prison & ordered a high level inquiry.”
Sasikala has been accused of bribing jail officials for undue favours. DIG (Prisons) D Roopa alleged that senior jail staff members allow a host of illegal activities at Central Prison, Parappana Agrahara, including provision of special treatment to former AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala. In a letter written to director general and inspector general (DG&IG) of police RK Dutta and DG (Prisons) Sathyanarayana Rao, Roopa said Sasikala is allowed to use a separate cooking room, while stamp paper scam convict, Abdul Karim Telgi, is provided undertrials as aides. Roopa said, “These violations of prison rules have come to your notice, and there are talks of £200,000 having been given as bribe for the same. I request you to act immediately and punish people breaking the rules.”
Rao, however, denied all the claims, saying, “There is no VIP treatment being given to any prisoners. If the DIG finds anything, she must first bring it to my notice and not go to media. I am yet to receive any such letter.” Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah said, “Request all to await the outcome of this inquiry. Strict action will be taken against any person found guilty of wrongdoing.”
Roopa transferred
After Roopa made the allegations, the state government transferred her out of the Prisons Department to the post of DIG, Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety, Bengaluru. This comes on a day senior retired bureaucrat Vinay Kumar is expected to begin a probe into the alleged irregularities in the prison. The government issued notices to Roopa for violating the service rules and going public over allegations against other senior officials. Incidentally, she took charge as DIG (Prisons) only on June 21.
