Heads roll in UP police as sleaze tales hit public domain

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government on Thursday (January 9) transferred 14 senior IPS officers in the state following a string of incidents involving a sleazy video and letter to the UP CM getting leaked.

This apart, the government placed under suspension Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida), Vaibhav Krishna.

Action was taken against him after three leaked videos in which he was found chatting with a woman in indecent language started doing the rounds. Sources said the videos were ‘found to be not doctored.’ The videos had been sent to a forensic lab in Gujarat which pronounced that those were genuine as there were no signs of editing, alteration, morphing or tampering.

Vaibhav Krishna has also been found guilty of violating service rules by leaking the letter he had written to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister accusing five senior officers of corruption.

The government has not announced a replacement for the SSP.

Vaibhav Krishna had accused the five officers of corruption in getting plum postings. They have been transferred to insignificant roles where they will not deal with the public directly.

SSP Rampur Ajay Pal Sharma has been sent to the Police Training School in Unnao; SSP of Sultanpur Himanshu Kumar to Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), Etawah; SSP Ghaziabad Sudhir Singh to PAC Agra; SSP Kushi Nagar Rajeev Narain Mishra to PAC Moradabad; and SP Banda Ganesh Saha to SP Human Rights in Lucknow.

Axe has also fallen on Diwakar Khare, Media Director in the Chief Secretary’s office. He has now been sent to the Information and Publicity Department. Vaibhav Krishna had accused him of taking bribe to fix the promotions of IPS officers.

Also read | Image of UP police takes huge hit as senior cops wash dirty linen in public

A three-member high-power committee consisting the Director of Prosecution H.C. Awasthi; IG STF Amitabh Yash; and MD Jal Nigam Vikas Gothwal have been constituted to give its report into allegations levelled against five senior IPS officers of the state. The committee has to give its report in the next 15 days.

To add to this, the Uttar Pradesh government, for the first time, is seriously contemplating the introduction of the Commissionerate system of policing.

Sources say Gautam Budh Nagar and state capital Lucknow are the two districts where the Commissionerate system would be tested.

In this system, the districts will have an officer in the Inspector-General of Police level as head. An officer in the Superintendent rank would report directly to the IG. This move would require the approval of the Cabinet.

Video controversy

After the chat video emerged, Vaibhav Krishna told the media that it was morphed and he was being targeted by the five senior IPS officers against whom he had complained.

An embarrassed Director-General of Uttar Pradesh Police O.P. Singh called a press conference in Lucknow and said Vaibhav Krishna had violated service rules.

The state government immediately swung into action and took no chances, especially after the recent negative publicity it got for the handling of the anti-CAA protests.

Sources said several more senior cops were on the firing line as the high-power committee completes it inquiry in 15 days.