As the war of words between two senior IPS officers in Karnataka intensified over the ₹619 crore Bengaluru Safe City project, state Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the government would look into the matter.
Addressing reporters here, Bommai said, "I have already spoken to the Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar and Director General of Police Praveen Sood to take note of it. They will take a call on what directions and orders to be issued." The minister was reacting to a query on the two officers crossing swords on the issue in public.
Additional Commissioner of Police Hemant Nimbalkar, who is Chairman of Nirbhaya Tender Inviting Committee and tender scrutiny Committee, has alleged that someone had impersonated Home Secretary D Roopa and tried to gain access to classified information, which according to him tantamounted to ''illegal interference.'' In response, Roopa, an Inspector General of Police rank IPS officer, said she accessed the tender documents and found serious irregularities.
Whistle-blowing act
Calling it a ''whistle-blowing'' act, Roopa said the Bharat Electronics Ltd had complained to the Prime Minister''s Office that the tender favoured a particular vendor.
Subsequently, the government ordered Bengaluru police Commissioner Kamal Pant to probe into the ''illegal interference'' in the process.
At a press conference on Sunday, Nimbalkar said the claim that Bharat Electronics Limited was wrongly disqualified was "absolutely false." He said Call-III of the tender for Safe City Project was in process.
Reacting to Nimbalkar''s clarification, Roopa accused him of ''misleading'' the government and demanded an inquiry into this role in the whole process.
"He is deep in corruption even in this Nirbhaya Tender of 1,067 crore, of which Central Government fund is 700 crore. Needless to say that he has been charge-sheeted by CBI in 2020 in 4,500 crore IMA company scam," she alleged in a statement.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.