A former IAS officer of Karnataka cadre has urged the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh to “facilitate proper investigation” into the death of Anurag Tiwari (36), an IAS officer of Karnataka Cadre. Tiwari was found dead outside a VIP guest house in Lucknow last week.
In his letter detailing the critical aspects in the death of the officer, M.N. Vijayakumar, a former bureaucrat, who has survived attempts to his life thrice, said, “I am writing this letter with a sense of great pain and anguish as yet another honest IAS officer from Karnataka Shri Anurag Tiwari has been silenced at a very young age. I feel it is my duty to give certain critical information to all authorities involved in the probing of the mysterious death of Tiwari as crucial information is bound to be suppressed by the senior IAS officers including the chief secretary in Karnataka.”
The officer appealed to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to entrust the case to the CBI at the earliest to prevent tampering with the evidence. He also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to notify the Whistle-blower’s Protection Act without dilution to prevent further deaths of honest officers. The delay in notifying the Act and dilution of the Act with proposed amendments has emboldened the corrupt officers, alleged the former bureaucrat.
Alleging that the IAS mafia in Karnataka was very strong and could derail proper investigation, Kumar said, “Even if the case is entrusted to the CBI, the corrupt IAS mafia here is so powerful and ruthless that it can derail proper investigation by tampering documentary evidences to mislead the CBI. I have documented how corrupt officers in Karnataka confidently file false affidavits before the courts to protect corrupt officers.”
Citing instances where honest officers had been harassed in the state, he recalled D.K. Ravi (who's body was found hanging in his house), Rashmi (who was physically assaulted) Mahantesh (who was murdered), Matthai (a victim of constant harassment) Anupama Shenoy (who was forced to resign), and stated all information was available on the Internet.
Lamenting that there was no “safe forum” for honest officers to air their grievances, he said, “Corruption by senior officers reported by a junior officer and threats to his life from corrupt senior officers are both treated as delusional. Even the CVC and the CBI do not have jurisdiction to address the harassment or corruption complaints given by All India Service officers working in various state governments.”
He also appealed to honest officers not to suppress critical facts from the SIT about the scam in Annabhagya scheme.
To questions over Tiwari's short stint being used as an excuse to rule out unearthing of a scam, Vijaykumar referred to the information given to him in 2014 regarding the loot in rice procurement for the Annabhagya scheme using three methods—procuring substandard rice at higher price to pocket a huge commission, procuring rotten rice at a higher price even when there was stock of quality rice which would then be sold illegally in the open market and deliberately allowing good rice to rot to raise indent for fresh stocks to earn a commission.
“My letters to the CS, Lokayukta and senior officers to expose the scam received no reply. No action was taken either. Certainly this could have grown into a huge procurement scam which Tiwari could have easily unearthed during a a short time. It is not pilferage as informed to the media by a senior IAS officer. It is a procurement scam,” alleged the officer.
Drawing parallels between Tiwari's case and his own experience of having survived three attempts to life, Vijaykumar said, “In July 2007, I survived though they tried to get me out of my house in the night. The second attempt was in September 2007, when a person claiming to be from Intelligence Bureau came early morning to take me out of the guest house on the pretext that my life was in danger. The third attempt in December 2007 made me unconscious in the office after my regular medicines had been tampered with.”
Vijaykumar raised suspicion over an unauthorised person—a deputy director of a forensic laboratory—being present unofficially during the post mortem of Anurag Tiwari and trying to influence the doctors to report it as a case of “natural death”. He said it brought back memories of D.K. Ravi case in which Karnataka home minister's advisor Kempaiah had been present during the postmortem. “Investigators must probe who had sent the deputy director to be present during Tiwari's postmortem,” demanded Vijaykumar. He noted that the ceiling fan from which Ravi's body was found hanging had no fingerprints, not even Ravi's. The demand for second postmortem of the body of D.K. Ravi was not considered
“All major scams reported by me have been done within a week after taking charge. I have exhaustive documents which I want to share with the SIT. Indian forensic laboratories cannot unearth drug-induced murders (heart attacks). I hope the family seeks a second postmortem,” he added.
Expressing hope that the Special Investigation Team and also Tiwari's family would contact him in their pursuit for truth and justice, Vijaykumar also warned the Karnataka chief secretary against suppressing any information. He appealed to the state police chief to facilitate a fair probe to “expose the criminal activities” of senior officers.
