Two Karnataka Women Officers Transferred Without Posting Day After Fight

Two female employees, whose public quarrelling has shocked the Karnataka administration, were today transferred without posting after they both filed grievances against one another with the chief secretary of the state, the state’s top bureaucrat.

In a reorganisation that was revealed this afternoon, D Roopa Moudgil, an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer, and Rohini Sinduri, an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) member, were removed from respective departments. Munish Moudgil, D Roopa’s spouse and an IAS officer, was appointed Principal Secretary of the publicity division.

Araga Jnanedra, the state’s home minister, had issued a warning yesterday about the two policemen’ “poor behaviour.” On Sunday, when D Roopa posted personal images of Rohini Sindhuri on Facebook, the heated argument got worse. She alleged that by emailing her images to male IAS officers, Rohini Sindhuri had broken the service conduct guidelines. She claimed that between 2021 and 2022, Ms. Sindhuri had exchanged images with three officers.

“What does it mean when these kind of pictures are sent to male senior officials? This is not a private matter. I am publishing these pictures now because I was able to access it only now. If I had received it earlier, I would have published. This is not a private matter. I will take this up further. This is a violation of the code of conduct,” D Roopa told reporters yesterday after meeting Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma.

Rohini Sindhuri said lobbed back the misconduct charge. “She is neither my boss, nor my senior, nor is she the government. She can’t keep on questioning my professional decisions on the public platform. It is not proper for an officer. It’s against the conduct rules,” she told reporters.

She said she would pursue legal action. The conflict reportedly began after pictures of Ms. Sindhuri and Sa Ra Mahesh, a Legislator for the Janata Dal Secular, were circulated recently. When Ms. Sindhuri was transferred to Mysuru in 2021, the two engaged in a number of public arguments while accusing one another of wrongdoing.

D Roopa speculated that the two had made a pact and questioned why an IAS senior officer would meet a politician.

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