Register · No. 19
D. Roopa Moudgil
IPS, Karnataka cadre, 2000 batch, Serving 2025
41transfers, as of 2017. 5 on the ribbon below, 3 of them documented.
- Documented
- One report
- Years with no move on record
Summary
D. Roopa Moudgil, a 2000-batch Karnataka IPS officer, says she has been transferred more than twice as many times as her years in service (about 41 by 2018 per press reports). Her best-documented clash is July 2017, when as DIG Prisons she reported alleged VIP treatment for V. K. Sasikala in Bengaluru's jail; the Siddaramaiah government moved her within days, citing her media statements as a conduct-rule violation, and an inquiry commission later largely confirmed the special treatment. In 2020 she was moved out of the Home Secretary's post after accusing a senior IPS officer over the Safe City tender, and in 2023 after a public dispute with IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri.
Wikipedia: 41 in 17 years to 2017. Indian Masterminds: 'more than 40'. A ThePrint headline (2018, seen in search results only; site blocked) also gives 41. Not updated for 2023 and 2025 moves.
On the record
The interaction of both police officers with the media during the course of inquiry was unwarranted, and amounted to a serious violation of All India Services (Conduct) Rules.
Instead of transforming the prison based on her report, transferring her to traffic is not right; it is like giving punishment for her honesty.
The day bureaucrats are able to come out of the phobia of transfers, the phobia of politicians, we will have the best bureaucracy in the world.
The moves, and what came of them
Oldest first. Each fold is marked by how well the record holds it.
One report
Superintendent of Police, Dharwad
Not a transfer: as Dharwad SP, Roopa led an all-woman police team to Bhopal to execute a Hubli court's non-bailable warrant against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti in a 1994 case over hoisting the national flag at Hubli's Idgah Maidan. Karnataka's DGP S. N. Borkar announced the team's mission to TOI.
- Up against
- Uma Bharti, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (warrant executed under court order), Bharatiya Janata Party Government: Congress–JD(S) coalition in Karnataka (N. Dharam Singh, CM).
One report
ThePrint reports that in 2006 she arrested an MLC from Gadag on the ground that 'prima facie he had incited riots', and he moved a privilege motion against her; in 2011 she removed police vehicles used without permit in a former chief minister's cavalcade. ThePrint does not link either to a specific transfer.
11 years with no move on record here.
Documented
DIG, PrisonsDIG & Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety, Bengaluru
Three weeks into the prisons job, on 12 July 2017 Roopa reported to DGP (Prisons) H. N. Sathyanarayana Rao on drug abuse, unregulated movement of prisoners and preferential treatment for V. K. Sasikala and Abdul Karim Telgi, adding that she had heard Rs 2 crore was paid for Sasikala's treatment. Rao called the allegations 'baseless'. Both officers spoke to the media; the government moved Roopa to traffic, sent Rao on leave, issued both show-cause notices and ordered an inquiry by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar.
- Up against
- H. N. Sathyanarayana Rao; V. K. Sasikala, DGP (Prisons), Karnataka; AIADMK (Amma) general secretary, then a convict in Parappana Agrahara jail, Karnataka Prisons Department; AIADMK Government: Congress (Siddaramaiah, CM).
- Reported reason
- BJP state president B. S. Yeddyurappa said moving her to traffic was 'like giving punishment for her honesty'.
- The officer said
- Roopa could not be reached by Mint at the time.
- The other side said
- CM Siddaramaiah said both officers' media interactions 'during the course of inquiry was unwarranted, and amounted to a serious violation of All India Services (Conduct) Rules'. The CMO said the moves were made 'to maintain the sanctity of the inquiry process and safeguard it from further interference'. Rao denied the allegations and, per ThePrint, filed a Rs 20-crore defamation suit against her.
- Outcome
- The Vinay Kumar commission largely upheld her account of special treatment (see primary documents); the case went to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
- What became of the matter
- Chargesheet filed; trial status unknown. The Vinay Kumar commission found Sasikala and her sister-in-law Ilavarasi had a block of five cells to themselves, unauthorised Class-A-type facilities under Rao's orders of 14 Feb 2017, and falsified visitor records. The ACB chargesheeted six people, including four prison officials, Sasikala and Ilavarasi, in January 2022 over the alleged preferential treatment. The alleged Rs 2 crore bribe was not established in the sources found. Trial status not found. The News Minute, Nov 2017 The News Minute, Jan 2022
This can only be explained as deliberate misreporting on the part of the concerned prison officials to escape falling within the prohibition of Rule 601 of the Karnataka Prison Manual 1978. In other words, it is a case of falsification of records.
Report Same report, on cell allocation, 2017
The entire block of 5 cells, together with their corridor, was open to use by Sasikala and Ilavarasi alone, not by anyone else.
Mint, Jul 2017 · The Indian Express, Jul 2017 · The News Minute, Nov 2017 · ThePrint (via Wayback), Dec 2020
3 years with no move on record here.
Documented
Home Secretary (Secretary to Government, PCAS), Home DepartmentManaging Director, Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation
As the state's first woman Home Secretary, Roopa alleged that Hemant Nimbalkar, Additional Commissioner of Police and chief of the tender committee for the Bengaluru Safe City Project, was favouring a bidder in violation of norms; Nimbalkar alleged she was interfering without authority. The government moved both officers on 31 December 2020.
- Up against
- Hemant Nimbalkar, IGP; Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration), Bengaluru, and chief of the Safe City tender committee, Karnataka Police Government: BJP (B. S. Yediyurappa, CM).
- Reported reason
- The New Indian Express wrote: 'It is learnt that the government transferred both as a punishment.'
- The officer said
- 'Transfers r part of govt job… Whistleblowing & firm action is rife with risks & I know that. I continue to do my job uncompromisingly, this post or that post, doesn't matter.' She also said she had been transferred 'more than double the times than number of years of my career'.
- The other side said
- No official reason given. Nimbalkar's counter-allegation was that she interfered without authority; the government ordered an inquiry into that allegation (TNM).
- What became of the matter
- Unknown. What became of the Safe City tender complaint and the inquiry into Roopa was not found in public sources.
The New Indian Express, Dec 2020 · The News Minute, Dec 2020 · ThePrint (via Wayback), Dec 2020
3 years with no move on record here.
Documented
(no posting)
After Roopa posted 19 allegations against IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri on social media, which Sindhuri denied and called a personal vilification campaign, the government transferred both without postings. Each filed a criminal defamation complaint against the other; in May 2026 the Supreme Court allowed Roopa's application for call-detail records in Sindhuri's case against her.
- Up against
- Rohini Sindhuri, IAS officer (Commissioner, Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments), Karnataka government (IAS) Government: BJP (Basavaraj Bommai, CM).
- The other side said
- No official reason; the transfers were made without postings amid the public dispute.
- Outcome
- Defamation proceedings pending (C.C. No. 7870/2023, ACJM Bengaluru).
Judgment Roopa Divakar Moudgil v. Rohini Sindhuri, Criminal Appeal arising from SLP(Crl.) 15802/2025, Supreme Court (Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan), May 2026
Having considered the matter in its entirety, we find that a case for interference has been made out.
The Indian Express, Feb 2023 · Supreme Court of India, via Indian Kanoon, May 2026
Sources for the count
Photo: Mirror107, CC0