IPS officer Hemanth M. Nimbalkar, in the thick of a controversy surrounding the Safe City Project, was transferred yet again on Monday barely days after his earlier transfer on New Year’s Eve.
The State government had earlier transferred Mr. Nimbalkar from the post of Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration), Bengaluru, as Inspector General of Police, Internal Security Division, Bengaluru. This followed a public spat between him and IPS officer D. Roopa over the project.
Ms. Roopa was also among the same batch of transfers. From her post of Inspector General of Police and Secretary to government, Home Department, she was transferred and appointed as Managing Director, Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd., Bengaluru.
The transfer of the two officers had been seen as imminent, after the trading of allegations resulted in major embarrassment for the government. Mr. Nimbalkar, who was the member secretary of the State-level Apex Committee monitoring the Safe City Project, had written to the Chief Secretary seeking an inquiry against an IPS officer for trying to procure classified information of a tender before it was published without authorisation, and also alleged that the officer impersonated the Home Secretary. The State government instituted a probe into the matter.
Ms. Roopa, who later owned up to having made the call to the Project Management Consultant (PMC) for the Safe City Project tender, had instead called herself a “whistleblower” and alleged “serious irregularities in tender drafting”. Mr. Nimbalkar had then held a press conference rebutting the allegations.
