Karnataka’s IPS officer Roopa is known for not paying heed to political rankings or politicians’ power as long as she follows the book. As an SP in Madhya Pradesh, she had arrested the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Uma Bharti after the court order in a rioting case.

D Roopa, who had also came to limelight for exposing VIP treatment given to DA case convicted Jayalalithaa's close aide V Sasikala inside a Bengaluru jail last year, has refused to accept an award from an NGO, run by BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

She wrote to the chairman of Namma Bengaluru Foundation, a Bengaluru–based NGO stating that her ‘conscience does not permit her to accept the reward’.

“Every government servant is expected to maintain neutrality and equidistance from all quasi-political bodies and associations that have even the bare minimum political overtone. Only then a public servant can maintain a clean and fair image in the eyes of the public,” she was quoted by news agency ANI.

“It becomes all the more relevant now in the view of the ensuing elections,” she added.

Roopa, who is currently posted as Inspector General of Police (Home Guard and Civil Defence, Bengaluru), said that the award carried a “heavy cash reward” and that she wanted to maintain “equi-distance from quasi-political bodies and associates.”

Chandrasekhar, who has funded the RSS-leaning Republic TV, was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha on the BJP ticket. Roopa along with seven government officials were shortlisted for the Government Official of the Year category.