Former Director General of Gujarat police RB Sreekumar, who took on Chief Minister Narendra Modi during the 2002 Gujarat riots and thereafter, for the series of alleged fake encounters of Muslims, has joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claiming to fight corruption in high places.
Sreekumar registered himself with the AAP on Thursday night and posed for a photo-op with the party’s Gujarat convenor Sukhdev Patel sporting a Gandhi cap.
Patel confirmed on Friday that Sreekumar had joined the party aiming to join the national “fight against corruption”. He added, “RBS is known to be a steadfast and a no-nonsense official who would never yield to the designs of powers-that-be.”
The 1972 batch IPS official, who as Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) during the 2002 riots reported that Narendra Modi’s post-riots public speeches were communally incendiary, said his ideology jelled with that of AAP.
“I am seeing a sunrise in the darkness of corruption,” he said, and insisted that he had not joined the AAP expecting an election ticket. Sreekumar said he would be active in the party to the best of his abilities.
In another development related to the AAP, Gujarat’s Chief Electoral Officer Anita Karwal on Friday informed that an FIR was lodged against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
An employee of Samakhiyali highway toll plaza in Kutch district, Dipendrasinh Tomar, had filed a complaint against car drivers of the AAP convoy carrying Kejriwal and his supporters for non-payment of toll tax on March 6. The complaint said around 15 vehicles comprising cars and jeeps crossed the toll plaza without paying the road fees in violation of the National Highways Authority of India notification.
“The AAP’s national convenor was sitting in one of the cars in the convoy,” said the complainant. Police sources said the cops properly checked the video footage at the toll plaza before lodging the complaint against the Kejriwal convoy.
