IPS probationer barred from joining training after wife accuses him of cheating

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, December 15

Days before a local Telugu Indian Police Service (IPS) probationer K.V. Maheswara Reddy was to join the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Police Academy, the Union Home Ministry has issued orders debarring his joining the training following a complaint from his wife, accusing him of cheating her.

Complainant Bhavana Birudula has told the Home Ministry that she was married to Reddy before he cleared his Civil Services exam, but after he got selected for IPS he refused to acknowledge her as his wife. A resident of Hyderabad, Bhavana complained to the Jawahar Nagar police station for cruelty, causing hurt and criminal intimidation (Sections 498A, 323 and 506 of Indian Penal Code).

Both were residents of the same locality and studied at the Osmania University where they fell in love and later married, according to the complaint.

Following the complaint, Ministry of Home Affairs has suspended the appointment of a trainee IPS officer Kokkani Venkata Maheswara Reddy in the wake this allegation of dowry harassment, criminal intimidation and caste discrimination against him.

Maheshwara Reddy’s offer of appointment has been cancelled and criminal proceedings will be carried out against him. His offer of appointment to the police will also be reviewed according to the order of the ministry.

The complainant’s parents were aware of their marriage, but Reddy, who hails from Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, had kept his marriage secret from his parents. Birudula, a Dalit, works for South Central Railway and has alleged that Reddy sought a divorce from her so that he could marry another woman from upper caste and get dowry.

The order from MHA stated that the action against IPS officer was initiated after the allegation against him was brought to its notice by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad.

Birudula has claimed that they were classmates at Osmania University Engineering College and were in a relationship for nine years. In April 2018, they got married without the knowledge of their parents and started living together in Padma Rao Nagar, Secundrabad.

The order from MHA states that pending investigation/trial against him, his Offer of Appointment remains suspended till further notice. It further says that MHA will review the offer of appointment and if the trainee is cleared of such criminal proceedings he will be allowed to undergo Basic Training Course (BTC) at SVP National Police Academy at Hyderabad without loss of seniority.

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