CM Siddaramaiah promises probe into privileges to Sasikala in prison

Bengaluru: A day after Deputy Inspector General of Prisons D. Roopa, accused her immediate superior, the Director General of Police and Inspector General of Prisons H.N. Sathyanarayan Rao with providing V Sasikala with a private kitchen and other facilities at the Bengaluru Central Prison at Parapana Agrahara in exchange for a bribe of Rs 2 crore, Mr Rao hit back.

Scoffing at the fact that the IPS officer of 2000 batch did not have the facts as she had not even visited the women's wing of the prison when she was there last Monday, he dismissed her report as full of “ill founded and baseless allegations."

With Chief Minister Siddaramaiah promising a probe into the serious allegations, the AIADMK leader’s lawyer Ashokan also described the report as "baseless allegations to damage Ms Sasikala's image."

"It is nothing but damaging the image of Ms. Sasikala. Prison officials are unnecessarily targeting Ms. Sasikala when in fact it's an internal fight between top prison officials." he told Deccan Chronicle.

D. Roopa, on Wednesday submitted a report to Mr. Rao stating that former Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalitha's aide Sasikala who is currently lodged in the city jail, has been allegedly provided with a kitchen and other facilities, and that there were “rumours” that Mr. Rao could be one of the beneficiaries.

Jail fight of a different kind!
The fight between the two top heads of the prison department is not unheard of, according to prison sources. Transferred to the prison department in January, DIG Roopa Moudgil was on a long leave and reported to work ‘reluctantly’ just 20 days ago, on June 23. Even after this, she was irregular to work and finally her not attending the CM’s review meet on Monday, forced the DGP Sathyanarayan Rao to issue notices to her. Focusing more on writing columns to newspapers and posting photos on Facebook rather than work had allegedly upset the DGP. Following her allegations, the DGP is likely to initiate disciplinary action against the woman officer.

In Sasi’s ‘kitchen’, top cops cooked
Mr. Rao said that the DIG had not even visited the women prisoners’ enclosure in the Bengaluru Central Prison at Parapana Agrahara even once, calling into question her blatantly wild allegations. “She has not visited the women’s enclosure in the prison. How can she make such blatant public allegations that Sasikala (AIADMK interim president and convict in the DA case) has been allowed a private kitchen and is being given VIP treatment inside the prison in exchange of Rs 2 crore bribe? There are no VIPs inside the prison and we have not given preferential treatment to anyone including Sasikala,” said the prison chief.

He added that while DIG Roopa has made sweeping allegations of corruption against him and other prison officers, she has not provided any evidence to back her claim. “Why didn’t she furnish any evidence for her allegations? I will submit her report along with my reply to the government soon,” added Mr. Rao, who has a little more than a fortnight before he hangs up his boots on July 31 when he superannuates.

Mr. Rao also inferred that the DIG may have submitted the report against him in retaliation for being asked, by him to concentrate on her work and not seek media attention. He had also sent her a memo for skipping the CM’s review meeting on July 10, and choosing to visit the prison on that day, weeks after she was assigned the post.

The report has also alleged that the multi crore counterfeit stamp paper convict Abdul Kareem Telgi has some under trial prisoners in attendance, who take care of his personal chores like massage and washing of clothes. Though Telgi, on medical grounds has been granted permission from the court orders to have assistance in the prison Roopa’s objection was that under-trial prisoners are not allowed to mix with convicts. “Telgi reportedly pays the under-trial prisoners some remuneration for their services, which helps them with their legal fee and bail,” said an official source. In the report, the DIG also brings up the drug abuse among prisoners, enclosing the medical certificate of 18 out of 25 prisoners, who tested positive for narcotic drug abuse. Top sources said that Roopa, during her official visit to the Central prison on July 10, reportedly saw a prison doctor being assaulted by a prisoner to whom he had given a certificate of medical fitness. “The prisoner was angry with the doctor because the medical certificate would have jeopardized his bail.

He was about to attack the doctor, when another psychiatric patient (and prisoner) came to the doctor’s rescue. Roopa had brought these incidents and the presence of a shop inside the prison, which allegedly sells SIM cards and cigarettes to the prisoners to the notice of her boss,” the officer added. Other sources who claimed condition of anonymity say that the DIG was upset with the fact that her role in the prison department was not defined and that instead of reporting to the DGP, she was asked to report to the Additional Inspector General of Prisons, who is a non IPS officer.