Odisha: Mohan Majhi govt initiate actions against 2 IPS officers who ‘worked’ for BJD
Bhubaneswar: Two senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers —DS Kutey and Ashish Singh — are now in trouble for their alleged “over-enthusiastic” and “ex-official” activity to further the political interests of the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal on the eve of last Lok Sabha and assembly polls in the state.
The BJP government headed by Mohan Charan Majhi initiated the process of initiating inquiry against them as directed by the Election Commission of India.
The Odisha state home department has served memorandums to the IPS officers asking them to submit written statements in their defence within 30 days of receiving the memorandum. If they fail, the inquiries against them will be held ex-parte.
The charge against DS Kutey, who is presently working as an officer-on-special duty (OSD) in the home department is that he had unduly interfered with the work of election-related officials during the general elections 2024, particularly when the Model Code of Conduct issued by the ECI was in force.
The State Level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) had approved a newspaper advertisement of a political party for publication during the silence period. Kutey had repeatedly called the additional CEO and Chairman of the MCMC on May 24, 2024, late evening and expressed his displeasure over the approval of the advertisement. He also asked him to withdraw the approval immediately so that the advertisement couldn’t be published on May 25, 2024.
Kute had also asked Chanchal Rana, the then district election officer and Collector of Khurda and police officers to get a contesting candidate arrested on the poll date, i.e. on May 25, 2024.
The charge against IPS officer Ashish Singh, who is presently working as an OSD, also in the home department, — is that he was allowed by the BJD government to avail one month of leave on medical grounds from May 4, 2024, following his application for leave and submission of the medical certificate of the treating physician.
But the Special Medical Board at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, examined him and found him to be physically and mentally fit. The home department has termed this as gross misconduct.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which was then the main opposition and came to power after the polls, had repeatedly knocked on the doors of the ECI leveling multiple charges of political activities by the two IPS officers to ensure victory of the BJD in the polls.