BENGALURU: If the abrupt transfer of Alok Kumar from the post of Bengaluru police commissioner to make way for the incumbent Bhaskar Rao had raised eyebrows over the shortest-ever tenure of an officer in the post, an unverified audiotape surfaced on Thursday, giving a shocking twist to the tale.
Bengaluru City police commissioner Bhaskar Rao has instituted an inquiry into the issue. “As it is a serious case, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crimes) has been instructed to investigate. Based on the investigation report, further action will be taken,” stated a press release.
The New Indian Express could not independently authenticate the audio tape, purported to be a conversation between Rao and a person named Faraz, who, throughout the conversation, appears to be close to several senior Congress leaders. The former is heard cajoling the latter to push his case with the Congress leadership to impress upon Kumaraswamy to appoint him as the next police commissioner. Faraz, in the audio clip, is heard dropping names of possibly every senior Congress leader.
The audio tape, based on the conversation, is understood to have been ‘created’ some time before Alok Kumar was appointed the police commissioner on June 17 by the Kumaraswamy-led JDS-Congress coalition government. Kumar was abruptly transferred on August 2 by BS Yediyurappa government, making him the police commissioner with the shortest tenure.
In the conversation, Alok Kumar is described as “very junior fellow”, and if appointed “Cadre ka baaja baj jaaega (IPS cadre will be ruined)”.
Rao’s purported voice is heard expressing his urgency to push his case because Kumaraswamy was planning to change the commissioner. The voice is heard telling Faraz that he has the backing of Kumaraswamy’s elder brother and then minister H D Revanna and the “senior man”, but that Kumaraswamy was keen on appointing Alok Kumar.
The voice, purportedly of Faraz, is heard assuring the person in the tape: “Karengey (will do) sir”.
The tape was doing the rounds on Thursday with a TV channel telecasting it too.