Bangalore, March 31
A photograph that Shankar Bidari keeps in his office shows him in a camouflage dress, with an Insas rifle on his right shoulder. The photo reminds him of his days as chief of the Special Task Force (STF) set up to nab forest brigand Veerappan. For his anti-Veerappan operations, Bidari was awarded the First Bar to the Police Medal for Gallantry by the President. Those days have now come to haunt him.

The High Court yesterday turned down his appeal against a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order. The court was critical of the 1978 batch IPS officer after a National Human Rights Commission-appointed panel detailed excesses allegedly committed by Bidari-led STF. His is the first case of a police officer being removed from the post of the DGP by the court on the grounds of rights violations.

Bidari started his career as a telephone operator in the P&T Department and held many important posts. He also has an uncanny knack for being at the right place at the right time. For instance, when two LTTE activists involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi were located in Bangalore, Bidari was DCP (Headquarters), Bangalore City. Though the investigation was handled by a special investigation team, some of its success rubbed on Bidari after the two fugitives were tracked down to Bangalore.

After the BJP came to power in Karnataka, Bidari was appointed Bangalore City police commissioner. He fell out of favour and was shunted as the ADGP, Railways, but soon made a triumphant return as the Karnataka DGP.

Based on Supreme Court orders on high-profile appointments, the state government sent a list of five senior officers eligible for DGP’s post to the UPSC to enable it to shortlist three for state government’s consideration.

The five were AR Infant, L Pachau, Shankar Bidari, Sushant Mohapatra, and R K Dutta. The UPSC approved the names of Infant, Pachau and Bidari. Pachau, who is a native of Mizoram, preferred to stay back in his home state where he is already the DGP. Infant and Bidari were both interested in becoming Karnataka DGP. What clinched it in favour of Bidari was his rapport with a Mutt seer. The religious leader put in a word with former CM B S Yeddyurappa, who conveyed it to Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda. And so, Bidari became DGP on November 30 last year.

It was the second time that Bidari beat Infant in the race for a top job. Infant eyed the post of the city police commissioner also, which eventually went to Bidari.

The All India Christian Council (AICC) took up Infant’s case. In a letter to Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on December 2, the AICC said: “The Government of Karnataka has done grave injustice to Mr A R Infant by overlooking his case to be the DGP. We are given to understand that caste and other considerations have played a part in the process of selection.”

Soon, Infant, who is DGP (Home Guards and Fire & Emergency Services) and is a year senior to Bidari, moved CAT, which on March 16 set aside Bidari’s appointment as DGP. Bidari’s appeal against the court order was turned down by the High Court yesterday. The HC also asked the state government to appoint Infant as the DGP.

The state government, while sending to the UPSC the candidate details, avoided mentioning the material on record about the alleged atrocities on villagers by the Bidari-led STF. Infant had drawn CAT’s attention to this. The atrocities came to light following an NHRC inquiry conducted by a retired Karnataka High Court judge. The judge, who was assisted by a former CBI director, made harsh observations and recommended a compensation of over Rs 2.80 crore to the 89 victims of STF atrocities in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.