Bengaluru: Bhaskar Rao says tradition broken, Alok says no top cop shamed like him

Bengaluru: It was a humiliation for both and new Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao and outgoing officer Alok Kumar are miffed.

Alok Kumar’s absence at the customary ceremony to hand over charge to his successor Bhaskar Rao has broken a tradition that had been followed without a breach for the last 55 years. Rather, it has never been broken since the commissionerate was formed in Bengaluru in 1960.

But Alok Kumar, who is now the ADGP, KSRP, clarified that the tradition was broken at the time of his transfer itself. “They have broken the tradition first by transferring me within 45 days of taking charge. You tell me which commissioner has been transferred within such a short period,” he asked.

He said that senior IPS officers Sunil Kumar and Raghavendra Auradkar had continued in their post as city police commissioners even after a change of guard in the government. “I have been transferred in a rather humiliating manner. I have been thinking why it happened,” he said.

However, Alok Kumar’s defiance has raised many eyebrows in police circles as it was for the first time that a newly appointed police commissioner (Bhaskar Rao) had to assume office on his own and not take over from his predecessor.

“It’s all about conventions. The police department has enjoyed a great history of maintaining certain conventions. Positions may come and positions may go, but nothing should be taken to heart,” a senior police officer said.

Mr Bhaskar Rao said that he felt sad about whatever has happened. “I would have felt more honoured if my predecessor had handed me charge. Why did it have to happen with me,” he wondered.

“For me to say that I have taken charge, someone has to hand it over to me. In the letter to the government too, I have said that I have ‘assumed’ office,” Mr Rao said.

“It’s unfortunate that such a tradition has been broken, and I have nothing else to say,” he said.

But Alok said that he waited in the commissioner’s office till 5.30 pm on Friday. “No transfer order was given to me. It did not come till 6 pm. I came to know of it after watching news on television. I was at home and people are trying to malign me by spreading rumours that I have locked the house and gone somewhere,” he explained.

“I handed over charge to the new commissioner on Saturday at 9 am,” he said.

When asked if he was planning to move the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) against the sudden transfer, he said that he has not given it a thought as yet.