Apologise or face Rs 50 crore defamation suit: DGP tells DIG Roopa

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Roopa was on Thursday served with a legal notice by transferred Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) HN Satyanarayana Rao, who asked her to either apologise for the controversial report on the alleged special treatment being given to AIADMK (Amma) leader VK Sasikala in jail, or face a Rs 50 crore defamation suit.

DIG Roopa had exposed the corruption in the Parappana Agrahara Prison and come out with a report saying Sasikala was getting VIP treatment in the jail and she had paid a bribe of Rs 2 crore to avail special facilities. Sasikala has been lodged in prison after she was convicted in the disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka High Court.

"You (D Roopa) are required to get an apology duly published in all leading newspapers in the next three days, failing which, I will be constrained to initiate appropriate legal proceedings both civil and criminal, against you to recover damages from you and the same is quantified as Rs 50 crore tentatively," DGP Rao said in the notice issued to Roopa.

Roopa had dragged Rao also in the matter claiming he was one of the beneficiaries of the Rs 2 crore bribe paid by Sasikala. She was eventually shifted from the prisons department to the traffics department but she continues to stand by what she said.

Meanwhile, DGP Rao said the allegations levelled against him have caused severe damage to his name and integrity besides causing mental distress. He also argued that if Roopa was able to take pictures of the prison premises, then how is it possible that she missed taking photos of Sasikala getting special treatment in her cell.

"You claim that you have taken pictures of irregularities inside the prison. But you have not taken the picture of Sasikala's separate kitchen and other royal facilities, which are the prime subject of your allegations. You could not take pictures because nothing like that existed," Rao's notice stated.

Rao added he would approach the Income Tax Department to find out the "source from where the alleged Rs 2 crore was mobilised, who carried it, who is its recipient and where is it stored, so that the guilty of various provisions of tax laws are brought to book," PTI reported.

DIG Roopa had also urged the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to take into consideration the confession made by VC Prakash, non-resident Indian (NRI) based in Australia, to the Delhi police in connection with the Election Commission bribery case.

Prakash had confessed he had arranged meetings between AIADMK leaders, including Deputy General Secretary TTV Dhinakaran, and Sasikala inside the jail as he "knew some jail officials". He also confessed he had helped Mallikarjun (a close aide of Dhinakaran) wire Rs 2 crore to Delhi.