Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi has suspended a top Pondicherry Civil Services (PCS) official for posting pornographic content in WhatsApp group administered by the Raj Niwas here on Saturday, sparking a fresh round of turf war between the government and Bedi.
The official, who is the Registrar of Cooperative Societies of joint secretary rank, was detained in the police station at Orleanpet since Friday evening following a complaint of the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at Raj Niwas, a woman.
The group, formed under the instructions of Kiran Bedi, has top officials of the state administration as members and is a medium for issuing instructions, seeking follow-up actions on issues of the public as well as suggestions and feedback from the officials.
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According to sources, the official posted objectionable content in “Prosperous Rural Puducherry, a Whatsapp group administered by the OSD, following which he was summoned to Raj Niwas for an explanation.
Not satisfied with the explanation of the official, “who said it (obscene content) was inadvertently sent to the group while deleting the messages in his phone, Bedi has issued suspension orders to the official.
The top official said he realised his mistake of sending message and apologised for it. However, a complaint was preferred by the LG on Friday evening and the official was detained at the police station for more questioning.
However, police sources did not confirm that an FIR was filed following the complaint. The Orleanpet police were yet to give a reason for detaining the officer throughout the night at the Police Station without producing him before a court even on Saturdaymorning, in case of FIR and arrest.
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On Saturday afternoon, a senior police official told reporters that the official, A S Shivakumar, was taken to the police station for “questioning”. However, he was released after nearly 16 hours at the intervention of Chief Minister V Narayanasamy’s cabinet colleagues A Namassivayam, Kandasamy and MLAs including K Lakshminarayanan, among others.
The colleagues of the official tried to release the detained official. However, things gathered momentum after the Pondicherry Civil Service (PCS) colleagues gatheredon Saturday morning and explained the incident to the Chief Secretary Manoj Parida.
The PCS officials insisted that their colleague should be released with a warning as he admitted that the objectionable content was sent accidentally. The PCS officials also met Chief Minister Narayanasamy and explained about the incident.
As the local television channels flashed the news of detention, Congress MLA, Mr K Lakshminarayanan visited the top official, detained at the Orleanpet police station. Around noon, ministers A Namassivayam, Kandasamy reached the station. The PCS officer was released around 1 pm.
The ministers and MLAs then went and met Director General of Police Sunil Kumar Gautam at his office and explained about the incident.
Later, after the meeting, Senior Superintendent of Police, Rajiv Ranjan told reporters that no FIR has been filed against the official and no arrest was made in the case.
When asked about the detention of the official for almost 15 hours, the SSP refused say anything but said it was a “secret”.
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However, speaking to reporters, Kandasamy, one of the ministers of V Narayanasamy’s cabinet, demanded that Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi should be recalled by the Central government. Nowhere else the officials were given instructions through WhatsApp. The LG is overlooking the elected representatives and act in a highhanded manner, he charged.
This is the second time Minister V Kandasamy was hitting out at LG Kiran Bedi, who he claimed crossing boundaries of administrative responsibilities.
In the recent past Kiran Bedi and chief Minster V Narayansamy have been engaged in oneupmanship in the administrative matters, though oth of them repeatedly denied that such wrangle does not exist. Both had vowed that they were working unitedly for the development of the Union Territory and the overall growth of all sections of people.
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Police, who were yet to confirm the filing of FIR, were caught in tricky situation as to whether to follow the instructions of the LG, who is the administrator of the UT or the elected Chief Minster, representing the people of Puducherry.
Unlike in Delhi, elected government in Puducherry has control over the police.
