CID opposes legislators' club at its HQ

Its chief writes to top cop, cites difficulty in moving out of heritage building

Amid reports that the Legislature Secretariat is planning to establish a club for legislators on the sprawling Carlton House premises on Palace Road here, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has written to the State police chief, Om Prakash, requesting him to oppose the move. Carlton House is the headquarters of the CID.

Highly placed sources in the DG&IGP’s office said that the CID’s DGP, H C Kishore Chandra, wrote to Om Prakash on December 9, stating that it would not be feasible to relocate the CID office, which houses seven squads of special investigation with a total strength of 745, including officials and other staff.

From the day of inception on April 21, 1974, the then Corps of Detectives (CoD) — later renamed the CID — the state’s own specialised investigation department, has been operating out of Carlton House. A heritage building, Carlton House was built more than a century ago and was the office of Sir Mirza Ismail, the Dewan of the princely state of Mysore. The proposal to convert the entire Carlton House premises into a recreation club for lawmakers has left the officials and staff of the CID in a spot of bother.

The CID chief’s letter stated that the main building—Carlton House—is spread over 1,216 sq mt and currently houses the offices of the DGP (CID), the Inspector General of Police and the Deputy Inspector General of Police. The seven squads of the CID — Homicide and Burglary, Special Enquiries, Anti-Human Trafficking, Cyber Crime, Economic Offences, Financial Intelligence and Counterfeit Currency and Narcotics Units — are housed in annexe 1 which was built in 1998 over an area of 3,318 sq mt.

The CID has an archive of all the cases it has investigated in the last 41 years in the cellar of annexe 1. The cyber laboratory at this annexe was developed over the years in association with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom). This apart, a second annexe of 4,420 sq mt at a cost of Rs six crore is being constructed on the CID premises. “Besides the seven squads, the DGP (Recruitment and Training) also works out of annexe 1.

“The CID is using around 9,000 sq mt of area on the Carlton House premises and the same cannot be shifted to any other place,” a senior police officer said.

Speaker visits heritage building

Legislative Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa inspected the Carlton House premises on Wednesday evening. Though he did not interact with CID officials, it is learnt that the Speaker was intending to visit two other heritage buildings that are said to have been shortlisted for the club. Sources in the secretariat said that the proposal had not yet been finalised and the Speaker would soon call a meeting to take a decision on it.