Kalpana Nayak, a senior IPS officer, called for an ‘unbiased’ investigation into a fire that gutted her chamber in Chennai on July 29, 2024.
An Additional Director General of Police in Tamil Nadu has alleged that an attempt was made on her life after she exposed serious irregularities in police recruitment.
In a complaint addressed to Tamil Nadu Director General of Police and Head of Police Force Shankar Jiwal, Kalpana Nayak, a senior IPS officer, called for an “unbiased” investigation into a fire that gutted her chamber in Chennai on July 29, 2024. The incident, she said, occurred days after she flagged discrepancies by the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) in implementing communal reservation in the recruitment of Sub-Inspectors, constables, prison warders, and firemen.
In her complaint, accessed by The Hindu, Ms. Nayak, then ADGP, TNUSRB, said the irregularities pointed out by her had averted an adverse order from the Madras High Court and the resultant embarrassment to the State government. But it had also put her life in danger and caused damage to government property, she added.
‘Detailed note ignored’
She alleged that her detailed note “on the major fallacies in the applicability of communal reservation” in the selection for appointment to the post of Sub-Inspectors and other ranks was “ignored” in March last year.
However, inquiries by The Hindu revealed that the then DGP of TNUSRB had formed a sub-committee to look into the discrepancies and revise the final list of selected candidates. While disposing of a writ petition raising the flaws in recruitment, the Madras High Court had directed the authorities concerned to rectify the selection list.
On July 29, 2024, minutes before Ms. Nayak reached the TNUSRB headquarters at Egmore in Chennai, she received a call from a senior police officer asking her not to come to office as a fire had broken out in her chamber. By then, she had reached the premises. “I visited my chamber, only to be exposed with utmost shock and dismay on seeing my charred chair…it was apparent that if I had reached office a little earlier, I would have lost my life. The sequence of events that followed after my pointing out the major fallacies not only in the current selection/recruitment, but also during the previous years, has culminated in endangering my life,” she said in her complaint. Incidentally, she was supposed to check and clear the revised list of candidates on that day.
The fire, which was said to have been triggered by a short circuit in the air-conditioning system, had destroyed her office.
With no action having been taken against any staff member even 15 days after the incident Ms. Nayak lodged a complaint with Mr. Jiwal on August 15, 2024, with copies marked to the Chief Secretary, the Home Secretary, and the Commissioner of Police, Chennai, seeking a thorough investigation into what she alleged was foul play and sabotage.
The ADGP alleged that a day after the fire, the revised list of selected candidates was released on the TNUSRB website without her perusal, scrutiny and approval. No immediate inquiry was held on the omissions and commissions of the team responsible for the upkeep of the office building, she said.
“After all, if a senior police officer’s safety cannot be assured in her own office while being surrounded by other police personnel, it casts a dark shadow on the state of policing itself,” she said.
When contacted, Ms. Nayak confirmed the sequence of events, and said there was no update from the investigators even six months after she filed her complaint.
“I hope a thorough and unbiased investigation is conducted by engaging a team of professionals in the interest of justice, and appropriate action is taken against those responsible for the fire,” she said.
Mr. Jiwal told The Hindu that preliminary inquiries had suggested that an electrical short circuit had occurred. A team from the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services also inspected the spot, and initial inputs did not point to any sabotage. However, after the senior police officer raised concerns, the matter was referred to the Chennai Police for further investigation, he said.
Published – February 02, 2025 08:36 pm IST