Sasikala prison bribe issue: 32 convicts shifted from Bengaluru jail, DIG submits second report

Bengaluru: In a sudden move, 32 convicts serving terms in the Parapanna Agrahara Central Prison were shifted on Sunday to two other jails in Karnataka allegedly for trying to air their grievances, an official said. The convicts were shifted around 1 am to prisons in Ballari and Belagavi, the official said on condition of anonymity. The convicts were shifted within days after DIG (Prisons) D Roopa submitted a report to DGP (Prisons) Sathyanarayana Rao alleging that there were “talks” that Rs 2 crore had exchanged hands to give preferential treatment to AIADMK (Amma) chief VK Sasikala and even said there were allegations against him as well. The DGP had rubbished the charge while the state government on 13 July ordered a high-level probe into the allegations. “As many as 32 convicts jailed in Parapanna Agrahara Prison have been shifted to Bellary and Belgavai prisons. They have been shifted because they tried to air their grievances and level corruption charges against senior jail authorities, including chief jail superintendent,” the official said. [caption id=“attachment_3809129” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of VK Sasikala. PTI[/caption] The official said the jail inmates were desperate to meet Roopa as they think she could solve their problems. The jail inmates were ‘unhappy’ with the conduct of the prison superintendent and accused him of beating them up for airing their grievances on several occasions in the past, the official said. The superintendent could not be reached for his comments. In yet another development, Roopa has submitted a second report to the state officials. “Yes, I have submitted my second report yesterday,” she told PTI in Bengaluru. It has been submitted to home secretary, additional chief secretaries, Anti Corruption Bureau chief, the DG and IGP R K Dutta and DG (Prisons) Rao. She, however, declined to divulge the contents of the report. However, an official, declining to be named, said Roopa had alleged in the report that a few video footages of her interaction with prison inmates wherein they spoke of critical issues, including corruption involving jail officials, had deliberately been deleted. The report also alleged that a special meeting room had been provided for Sasikala. “There are no CCTV installed in the special room,” the official said quoting the report. It was also alleged that a few CCTV cameras near Sasikala’s cell were deliberately kept non-functional. The state government, on 14 July, had served a notice on Roopa for going to media with her first report, which had triggered a major controversy, leaving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah red-faced. Lamenting Roopa’s conduct, Siddramaiah had said it was “absolutely against the rule book and inappropriate on her part to share details with the media.” An unfazed Roopa had said she did not divulge the details of the report to media. Roopa said the DGP (Prisons) was the first one to talk about the report and only after that she gave her reaction. Rao, however, had rubbished Roopa’s charge against him, terming it “absolutely false, baseless and wild.” Stating that no special treatment was being given to Sasikala, he had also said he would take legal recourse against the junior officer.