Karnataka IPS officer Alok Kumar has asked the state government to correct what he described as factually incorrect submissions made before the Supreme Court about a phone-tapping case against him, after the court examined the composition of a team investigating two Karnataka Public Service Commission recruitment cases.
In an October 5 letter to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh, Kumar said the Central Bureau of Investigation’s probe into the telephone interception issue had been closed and that a special court had accepted the closure report in February 2024. He requested the state to ensure that its legal submissions before the Supreme Court do not repeat what he called unverified allegations.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Karnataka government, had opposed the appointment of Kumar as head of a court-appointed Special Investigation Team investigating the two KPSC recruitment cases. During a hearing on October 1, Sibal referred to past allegations connected to the phone-tapping case while questioning Kumar’s appointment.
The state government had challenged a Karnataka High Court order that appointed specific police officers to investigate the recruitment cases. Its position was that the government, rather than the court, should retain discretion over the selection of SIT members. The Supreme Court stayed the September 21 High Court order directing a fresh probe by the court-appointed team and later allowed the Karnataka government to replace members of the SIT.
Kumar wrote that the submissions before the Supreme Court had prejudiced his professional reputation and incorrectly suggested that he remained the subject of a CBI investigation. He said the CBI had filed a closure report in the case initially in June 2021 and finally in February 2024. The special court accepted the report in February 2024, according to the report.
The phone-tapping controversy dates back to 2019, when Kumar was Bengaluru’s police commissioner and allegations emerged that the calls of politicians, bureaucrats and other prominent individuals had been illegally intercepted. The government transferred him 47 days after he took charge. The CBI later registered a First Information Report, conducted searches and questioned Kumar during its investigation.
According to Kumar’s account, the CBI concluded that its investigation could not establish that he had leaked lawfully intercepted audio files to a journalist. A separate departmental inquiry initiated by the state was closed in May 2023 after the government dropped the charges. However, the state issued a fresh show-cause notice and ordered a new inquiry in May 2025.
Kumar challenged that action before the Central Administrative Tribunal, which stayed the proceedings after his counsel argued that they were intended to affect his promotion. The Karnataka government challenged the tribunal’s order before the High Court, which declined to grant a stay. That matter remains pending.
Kumar was promoted to the rank of Director General of Police in December 2025 and currently heads Prisons and Correctional Services. In his letter, he asked the Chief Secretary to intervene personally and ensure that the state’s affidavit before the Supreme Court reflects the official record. The Supreme Court proceedings on the KPSC investigation and the pending litigation over the departmental inquiry remain the next formal developments.
