Jubilee Post News & Views
KP Singh
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh has seen it several times in the bureaucracy when IAS vs IPS, IPS vs PPS and PCS vs IAS affrays often are reflected upon service issues but here it is a new twist to such inter-departmental affray. This time IPS officers are divided and their affray to a low level is making trouble for the government too.
On Friday the battle between officers reached to such an extent that the state’s DGP had to himself call a press conference to clarify the issue. The matter is of Vaibhav Krishna the Gautambuddha Nagar SSP who is in a affray with other officers of his level. Ajay Pal Sharma who is against Krishna is no less than Krishna and the irony is all this is happening in Yogi’s tenure between officers at important posts. Despite Yogi having zero tolerance to nuisance.
Vaibhav Krishna was SSP in Etawah prior to his present posting. Then he had exposed a racket in mining and transport department in a very dramatic style and had got a lot of applause for his actions. It was due to that episode that he was given charge of Gautambuddha Nagar/NIODA. At his new posting in the industrial city near the national capital also he continued with his kind of startling functioning and a few months before he had sent a few journalists to jail on charges of blackmailing.
This action had irked journalists in Lucknow too and they met with the additional chief secretary Home and information Awanish Kumar Awasthi and also the DGP OP Singh. But this did not helped the jailed journalist and they could not even get bail.
In this issue Vaibhav Krishna had written a confidential letter to the chief minister and accused that his predecessor in NOIDA Ajai Raj Sharma, NOIDA’s SSP STF Sudhir Singh and Himanshu Kumar and Ganesh Saha were involved in dealing for postings of inspectors with other officials via those journalists. probe In this matter has been handed over to ADG Meerut who was supposed to give final report this month but has sought extension.
Meanwhile, three video clips went viral in which Vaibhav Krishna seen having a conversation with a woman. After the video went vial it irked Vaibhav Krishna to which he said this was a plot against him and held only those officers responsible against whom he had written to the chief minister. Interestingly, if Vaibhav Krishna is said to be close to chief minister then his contender Ajai Raj Sharma and others too are close to chief minister and the DGP.
Ajai Raj Sharma had made a picture of an encounter of a rape accused viral and hoping that since the chief minister has an attitude towards encounter and action this might be liked. But these super cops are now a bone of contention for the CM. Out of a whimsical decision Vaibhav Krishna had got the letter leaked. This embarrassed the state government and the DGP had to come before the media and explain. The DGP said that explanation has been sought from Vaibhav Krishna in this matter because this kind of a gesture is against the code of conduct for the officers.
Experience reveals that officers who are involved in such ‘stunts’ can be trouble for any government and those officers who are not stuntmen do not leak things in media of social media even if they are upset with some decisions of the government but avoid spreading the matter in social circles. It may be remembered that between 1982 and 1983 there were several plots during surrender by the dacoits. Malkhan Singh, Ghas Baba and Phoolan Devi had surrendered before the government but people said that actually it was reverse and this was surrender of the government before the dacoits.
The reigns of this operation was given to one of the tainted IPS officer Rajendra Chaturvedi who was made SP of Bhind. It was said that he used to give peace zones to dacoits so that they abduct big businessmen and farmers from other districts and collect extortion. When a dacoit felt that he or she had gathered enough they may then surrender and their welcome was done just as a Maharaja. The then DIG of Chambal ranger MD Sharma had objection to such a modus oprandi and he had then written against Rajendra Chaturvedi, but media was not given any leak about this.
Despite being against surrender on February 13, 1983 when Phoolan Devi came to surrender before Arjun Singh then I and other associates such as Bhupat Singh Jadaun came to oppose and this move surprised all. It was MD Sharma who had beaten up Bhupat Singh who had tried to snatch away mike from Arjun Singh and asked all to control the situation.
When gangwars between KP Sngh and Bakshi gangs were common on roads in Lucknow the state capital then two young IPS were posted as SP (city) and due to their efforts cops could again take reigns on the roads. One of the name was Brijlal and the other was Surya Kumar Shukla. But when Brijlal during his posting SSP Etawah took action against the brother of the then CM it was not appreciated. Later Brijlal changes his way for publicity and during his tenure as SSP Meerut made a history of sorts to bring an end to mafiaso of the western Uttar Pradesh.
Former DGP Late Sriram Arun was also counted among good officers but his actions to make headlines could not take him to those heights. During his tenure as ADG vigilance he had got files opened of all those officers who were in the race to become DGP and this was also leaked in the media. He became target of the critics. When he became DGP his son Aseem Arun came in the ambit of action by the human rights commission in connection with a rape during training. Then the man looking in to human rights violation cases at DGOP headquarters was ADG SN Chak.
Referred to as ‘Mr. Clean’ Shreeram Arun then played such a game with SN Chak that his sones comes out clean and the ADG gets engaged. A complete report was published in this matter in the magazine ‘Doosra Shaniwaar’ by Rajkishore a leading journalist. Though Aseem Arun was a good officer but even in his case people did not appreciated hunger for publicity and tricks. Amitabh Thakur too suffered due to this weakness.
Second example is of Arun Kumar who worked silently and with transparency. During the Rajnath Singh government he was made SSP Kanpur when the ADM murder took place but he agreed with resentment. Rajnath Singh convinced him to join and assured of allowing him to work freely and also ensured it. The kind of peace Arun Kumar maintained in Kanpur by taking confidence of all including the Muslims is still remembered. The problem is that the state government is unable to find good officers who were there during Rajnath and Kalyan governments. Now people are awaiting to see how the NOIDA SSP episode concludes.
(Writer is a senior journalist and the views here are personal)
