Ruby Choudhary episode: IAS academy does volte-face, says suspended guard reinstated
In a response to a Right to Information (RTI) petition, the Mussoorie-based academy said security guard Deb Singh was held responsible for Ruby’s stay as per an internal probe. The guard was suspended but later the order was revoked after he admitted his fault, it said.
DEHRADUN: The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) has flip-flopped from its earlier stand that it did not conduct any internal inquiry for facilitating Ruby Choudhary’s illegal stay.
In a response to a Right to Information (RTI) petition, the Mussoorie-based academy said security guard Deb Singh was held responsible for Ruby’s stay as per an internal probe. The guard was suspended but later the order was revoked after he admitted his fault, it said.
Ruby was arrested in April 2015 for staying illegally for more than six months at the academy and for posing as a trainee IAS officer. A case of cheating, forgery and impersonating a public servant was registered against her. The LBSNAA is a high-security academy where trainee and serving civil servants are enrolled for pursuing courses round the year. Ruby’s presence was considered a serious security breach and the LBSNAA management had suspended the guard.
Dehradun-based journalist Raju Gusain sought details from the academy in November last year about the case status. “Academy has not conducted any internal inquiry into the case of Ruby. The case has been probed by the Special Investigative Team,” academy’s chief principal information officer Satyabir Singh said.
Dissatisfied with the reply, Raju wrote to the chief information commissioner (CIC). In its letter dated 15 December 2017, the academy said it conducted an internal probe and held the guard responsible for the fiasco. In June 2016, LBSNAA jointy director Jaspreet Talwar had ordered two increment cuts in the guard’s salary and cancelled his house allotment. .
The academy has flip-flopped several times on the episode amid allegations that the illegal stay was not possible in a high-security zone - manned by the para military forces round the clock - without involvement of some senior officers. The academy has repeatedly denied this and ‘axed’ the junior most staff.
In a previous RTI reply in June 2015, the academy mentioned that “a probe is going on.” In a separate communication, the then academy director Rajeev Kapoor said an internal probe was going on. But it changed stand. The academy now noted that Ruby didn’t attend any class nor was issued any book from the library.
Ruby had alleged that a deputy director of the academy helped her in staying there in lieu of money, an allegation denied by the LBSNAA management. The woman from Uttar Pradesh’s Muzzafarnagar reportedly told her relatives that she was a trainee civil servant.