Foul language: Tourism Minister's conduct leaves IPS officer in tears

BENGALURU: A video clip showing Tourism Minister S.R.Mahesh shouting at Tumakuru SP Divya Gopinath allegedly in foul language during the last rites of the Siddaganga mutt seer on Tuesday has gone viral. The incident left her tears, according to sources.

The lady IPS officer, who had gone on leave, returned to work on Monday after hearing the news of seer’s death to be part of the security apparatus. She had been transferred as SP, yet she took part in official duties as she was well-versed with the place, and had security blueprint ready for the day.

Her range IGP had given her a list of 30 names, and she was permitted to allow only those persons. When she denied entry to Mahesh, he lost cool and told her he was a Cabinet minister. In the same way, she denied entry to another minister, but both were let in. One version of the incident is that the IPS officer had not seen ministers before, while another says she just stuck to her superior officer’s orders.


The video shows the lady being pacified by others. Soon after the incident, she left the place and chose to proceed on leave, but was persuaded by officers to resume work, sources said.

The Minister on Wednesday said he was not going to tender an apology to the SP as he did no wrong. The IPS officer, however, denied that she cried after the incident.