The 17 Muslim youths who were asked to stay away from work after they had been targeted by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya in the alleged bed-blocking scam will be reposted for duty in the coming week, multiple sources said.
Tulasi Madineni, Special Commissioner, BBMP, South Zone, said they would get their jobs back, but it was left to the agency they work for to decide where they would be reposted for duty. However, when contacted, the agency, Crystal Infosystems and Services, which is contracted by the BBMP to provide personnel, refused to comment on the issue.
Ayesha, one of the staffers in the South Zone war room, said while they had been assured of getting their jobs back, there was no clarity on where they would be posted. “Preferably, we want to be posted back to the South Zone war room, as that is where we were unfairly targeted for no fault of ours and removed from work,” she said.
Mr. Surya and three BJP MLAs had stormed the war room last week and live-streamed an “expose” of an alleged bed-blocking scam. Mr. Surya read out the names of 16 Muslim youths and questioned their role in the scam. The personnel, along with another staff member who was from the same minority community but had not been named publicly, were asked not to report to work.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police who are investigating the case let them go as they did not find any evidence of their involvement. However, the firm insisted that they would be reinstated only after the police gave them a clean chit.
This decision was criticised as the same treatment was not meted out to the remaining staffers in the war room, many of whom had been questioned by the police. “We were falsely accused solely based on our religion. In a way, we were asked to prove ourselves innocent,” said one of the 17 personnel who had been targeted.