Nearly a year after a controversy broke out over recording of an alleged phone conversation between an Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) and a Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) leader, city Police Commissioner Praveen Sood confirmed, on Tuesday, that the ACP had filed an official report alleging that the conversation had been leaked to the press by his colleague, a Deputy Commissioner of Police.
“A fact-finding inquiry is in the final stages and a report will be submitted to the DG & IGP soon,” Mr. Sood said. However, he refused to divulge more details.
The issue first came into focus in September 2016 when a media report claimed that it had accessed recordings of a phone conversation between ACP (West), Charan Reddy, and KRV leader Narayan Gowda.
The recording allegedly revealed that Mr. Reddy had ordered the release of a KRV activist detained at Byatarayanapura police station, after an assurance from the KRV leader that they would not indulge in violence over the Cauvery dispute. The conversation had allegedly taken place ahead of the Supreme Court decision on the release of water to Tamil Nadu. Following the order, large-scale violence had erupted in the city.
Sources say that subsequent to media reports, Mr. Reddy filed a complaint stating phone intercepts had been shared with the media by Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajai Hilori. Incidentally, Mr. Reddy had ordered Mr. Hilori, who was DCP (West) at the time, to release the KRV activist, but violence had erupted mainly in Mr. Hilori’s jurisdiction.
“It is not phone tapping, but legal intercepts which has been shared without authorisation to the media, which amounts to gross misconduct,” a senior police officer.
While little was revealed about the complaint to date, R.K. Dutta, who took charge as DG & IGP in January this year, is learnt to have written to the Police Commissioner to probe the matter a few months ago.
“I have asked the Police Commissioner to probe the matter and file a report based on which action will be taken,” said Mr. Dutta.
