Tax-payer to be billed for Tejdeep thrashing

HYDERABAD: Raising many eyebrows in the Andhra Pradesh police department, the Rs 4 lakh compensation that was paid from the police welfare fund to the victims of senior IPS officer Tejdeep Kaur Menon and which was supposed to be recovered from her, is now being reimbursed from the state exchequer. The National Human Rights Commission had found Tejdeep, presently Additional DGP, Sports, guilty of intimidation and had directed that compensation be paid to the victims.The government, for some strange reasons, has decided to pay from their own pocket instead of recovering it from the IPS officer. The orders for the same are likely to be issued shortly.Government sources told Express that the move to reimburse came after tremendous pressure was brought upon the government from various quarters. “The General Administration Department (GAD) is issuing the order to reimburse the welfare fund shortly,” sources said.“In the first place, the amount should not have been paid from the welfare fund as the money is not meant for such purposes. Having paid it, the money should have been recovered from the officer itself. But surprisingly the money is now being paid by the government for something that the officer is responsible,” senior officials said.In 2002, Tejdeep along with her gunman had barged into the house of a couple - Harita and Kadeer - and allegedly intimidated them over a property dispute at the behest of her close friend Captain Mamata. Later, when the matter reached the NHRC, they found Tejdeep guilty and immediately ordered the government to pay Rs 4 lakh to the couple as interim relief. This was paid from the police welfare fund raising objections.Though the state Crime Investigation Department (CID) had already conducted a probe into the matter, told the government that there was evidence against the IPS officer and even sought permission to initiate criminal proceedings against her, Tejdeep had sought a re-investigation claiming that the NHRC probe was “sub-standard.” The government had then directed the CID to re-investigate the matter, making them wonder how they could investigate a case already probed by them.