A special police team has been set up to track down Kudligi DSP Anupama Shenoy, whose resignation and subsequent posts on Facebook, making strong allegations against Karnataka Labour Minister Parameshwar Naik, have created a stir.
Till late on Wednesday, efforts by the Ballari Superintendent of Police to establish contact with Ms. Shenoy have failed. He had sent a senior official to her native place Paniyuru in Udupi district, and had got in touch with Ms. Shenoy’s mother and brother, sources said.
The team was formed on the instructions of the Director General and Inspector General of Police Om Prakash, after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the government was “trying to convince the officer to withdraw her resignation.” The police are trying to track Ms. Shenoy down through her mobile phone and the IP address of the computer she is using to update her Facebook account.
Sources in the DGP office said since her resignation had not been accepted, she was still a serving officer. Her “inflammatory” posts on Facebook would attract disciplinary action. Sources added that while the Home Department was keen on taking action, it was forced to keep mum as the whole episode had taken a political turn with the Chief Minister himself intervening.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the government was “not for taking any hasty decision.” He said that she was still a DySP and the government wanted her to continue in service. However, he added that the government servants should abide by the rules and she could have got in touch with higher officials if there were issues.
In her last Facebook post, Anupama Shenoy claimed there was a threat to her life, even as she remained incommunicado. However, though she had said that she would release a CD “exposing” Mr. Naik, she did not do so.
Meanwhile, speaking to presspersons at Uchila, Achyut Shenoy, younger brother of Anupama Shenoy, said that the Facebook account of his sister “could have been hacked.” He said she was “not the kind to write impulsively.”
