Bhubaneswar: An unseemly fight has broken out between two top police officers – DG, Fire Services Binay Behera and former ADG, Fire Services and CBI joint director M Nageswara Rao – over an allegation of bungling worth Rs 3 crores in the purchase of uniforms and dungarees for the service during the latter’s tenure.
The charge against Rao, presently being probed by an internal audit, pertains to the purchase of red track suits and yellow dungarees for fire personnel.
In a stinging rejoinder to the charge made by the incumbent DG, Rao today said Behera had conspired with Home secretary Asit Tripathy to defame him out of ‘jealousy’ for the pioneering work he had done while heading the Fire Services.
Refuting one of the key allegations against him in the ongoing inquiry, Rao told OTV that government sanction has never been a prerequisite in the change and purchase of uniforms since the inception of the force in 1944.
Questioning the ongoing audit of the purchase by the Home department, Rao told OTV; “The audit is not free and impartial as it is being ‘managed’ and ‘compromised’ by BK Behera.” He alleged that the Home secretary had suppressed three letters he had written to him pointing out illegalities and corruption running into crores during Behera’s previous stints in the Fire service.
Rubbishing the charge against himself, Behera said there was nothing personal in his letter to the Home department seeking instructions on the matter.
“I have not done anything personal against anybody. It was a question of whether this was proper or not. I sought the government’s instruction because I had some doubts. There is nothing personal in this. It is all there on record. I wanted to be sure that I am on the right path. That’s all,” Behera told OTV over phone.
Former DGP Banabihari Misdhra appeared to be endorsing Rao’s contention. “The situation has changed a lot since the time the police manual was framed. DGs have given such orders on many occasions. They have personal discretion in such matters as long as there is no mala fide intention. But such matters should have remained within the confines of the organisation and not come out in the open,” he told OTV.