Bengaluru: Alok Kumar backs off, rescinds case

Bengaluru: City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao had the last laugh on Friday after KSRP ADGP Alok Kumar withdrew his petition from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) challenging his transfer order.

Alok Kumar had also challenged the government order to appoint senior IPS officer Bhaskar Rao in his place.

Taking his contention into cognizance CAT had issued notices to the state government and others. Advocate General Prabhuling Navadagi had already filed objections to the petition.

The hearing on objections was posted for Friday. But before it could begin, Alok Kumar’s advocate Jayanth Devkumar informed the Tribunal that his client would like to withdraw the petition.

Alok Kumar had earlier stated that he was fighting this case for his honour and not for the post. Hence his latest act of withdrawing the petition has raised many eyebrows.

Police sources said that Alok Kumar’s decision was the result of the audio gate scam which had rocked the state.

Within a week after becoming Chief Minister, B.S. Yediyurappa had transferred Alok Kumar from the post of Bengaluru city Police Commissioner.

Alok Kumar was upset because he was shunted out within 45 days after taking over as Police Commissioner.

Bhaskar Rao, who was appointed to the post, vociferously condemned Alok Kumar’s approach to policing and pledged that he will never wield lathi in public. Alok Kumar used to lead from the front and claimed that it gave the police force strength.

While the rift between the two cops was at its peak, the audio recording of a purported conversation that took place between Bhaskar Rao and Faraz, a power broker, went viral. This happened within a week of Bhaskar Rao assuming power.

DG & IG Neelamani Raju ordered an inquiry into the audio tapes issue and entrusted Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil with the task.

In the course of investigation, the officers stumbled upon a major telephone tapping scam, supposed to be the biggest so far in the state.

The scam pointed fingers towards former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and IPS officers Alok Kumar and Hemanth Nimbalkar. It was also poised to result in a political showdown.

Now, considering the scale of the telephone tapping scam, the government is also contemplating to hand over the investigation to a central agency. Police sources said all this had an impact on the withdrawal of petition by Alok Kumar.