IS THIS A TWISTING OF FACTS OR TWISTING THE STORY TO SUIT THE COMING ELECTIONS

PANJIM: A recent RTI application has revealed that the former IGP KD Singh had agreed to repair his official car, which his son Siddharth had taken out and met with an accident on Dec 4, 2009. But, the then DGP Bhimsen Bassi suggested that the amount, 4, 33,199.54, should be paid by the government and this was agreed by home minister Ravi Naik.

This led to the home department taking the onus on itself and decided that the government will pay instead of KD Singh, as it was "not his fault".

The accident by former IGP KD Singh's son Siddharth, while driving his father's official car on December 4, 2009 had cost the state 4,33,199.54, as revealed by a Right to Information (RTI) Act application by social activist Aires Rodrigues.

A recent RTI application by Rodrigues revealed that the home department officials had at first agreed to KD Singh's decision to pay for his son's fault, which was reversed by the then DGP and home minister.

The file noting of the home department put out in January 2010, states, "Although, it is not his fault, he (IGP K D Singh) takes responsibility for the mishap on behalf of his son. The government vehicle is to be repaired. KD Singh has requested whether the vehicle can be repaired by the government or he will take the responsibility to whatever the government decides".

The home department, later, said , "The IGP has given two options for repairing the damaged vehicle. In case the government takes the responsibility of repairing the vehicle, it may set a bad precedent and similar cases may crop up at a later stage. Since the IGP has willingly agreed that he would take the responsibility for repairing the vehicle, it is felt that we may request the IGP to take the responsibility to repair the said vehicle to avoid any such incidents in future."

The home department documents further stated that the DGP had furnished the certificate of availability of funds for the amount 4,33,199.54 towards the estimate of repairs of the Toyata Innova vehicle.  "The proposal to repair the Toyata Innova vehicle at government cost has been administratively approved by the government. We may now refer the file to the finance department for expenditure sanction", the note states.

Accordingly finance department noted, "Finance department agrees the expenditure sanction of 4,33,199.54 for repair of Toyota Innova in view of the minutes of home minister." After this, the order to repair the vehicle was issued by the Home department.

Despite this, the home department had sent several reminders to the Goa police asking them to explain how the car was in the possession of the IGP's son, Siddharth Singh, when it was actually supposed to be in the custody of the official driver. "While the government may have agreed to bear the expenditure on repairs of car for the time being, proper disciplinary action against defaulters and recovery may be required. Goa police is not coming clean on this aspect. Accountability has to be fixed and consequential action taken", the note added.

The vehicle was driven by the former IGP's 18-year-old son Siddharth. The boy had taken his father's new official car out on December 4, 2009, when he met with an accident late at night.