D Roopa Moudgil, the IPS officer who exposed the alleged special treatment to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(Amma) leader V K Sasikala in prison, has refused to accept 'Namma Bengaluru Award', an honour given by a foundation funded by a BJP MP.
Roopa, currently the Inspector General of Police (Home Guard and Civil Defence, Bengaluru) has refused to accept the award as it carries a high cash reward. Roopa was nominated in the Government Official of the Year category.
In a letter written to the chairman of Namma Bengaluru Foundation, a Bengaluru –based non-profit organisation, she said her 'conscience does not permit her to accept the reward.’
"Every government servant is expected to maintain neutrality and equidistance from all quasi-political bodies and associations that have even the bare minimum political overtone. Only then a public servant can maintain a clean and fair image in the eyes of the public," she said in the letter.
"It becomes all the more relevant now in the view of the ensuing elections," she said.
Eight government officers including Roopa have been shortlisted for the award and the winner will be announced at an event in Bengaluru.
Namma Bengaluru Awards are given to multiple personalities across categories by the foundation funded by businessman and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar. This is the ninth edition of the awards.
Last year, Roopa had alleged that influential prisoners at Bengaluru jail, including Sasikala, were being given VIP treatment. As Deputy Inspector of General (Prisons), she had also dragged her senior into a bribery row over the matter.
In a report submitted on July 12 to H N Sathyanarayana Rao, the then DGP (Prisons), Roopa had said there was "a talk" that Rs 2crore had exchanged hands to give preferential treatment for Sasikala and there were allegations against him also.
In her four-page report, she had also alleged that a special kitchen was functioning in the jail for Sasikala, where she was lodged since February 15, 2017 to serve her sentence.
She was later transferred along with Rao.
(With ANI inputs)
