Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday refused to react to the former Union Home Secretary, R.K. Singh’s allegations that he interfered with investigations and postings in Delhi Police, saying the charges “are political in nature.” “I do not see him as a former Home Secretary but as a BJP man,” Mr. Shinde told journalists here.
After a two-year term as Home Secretary that ended on June 30, 2013, Mr. Singh joined the BJP in December and is likely to be a party candidate in the Lok Sabha election from his home State, Bihar.
Mr. Singh had accused the Minister of having misled the country in the matter of the U.S. helping India bring back underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Mr. Shinde said the Congress and his ministerial colleagues had already responded to Mr. Singh’s allegations.
At his monthly press conference last week, Mr. Shinde admitted that he had pulled up Mr. Singh and the then Delhi Police Commissioner for having failed to control protesters who had reached Raisina Hill and were only a short distance away from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
While Congress leaders had questioned the “opportunistic” and “low” behaviour of the retired bureaucrat, the BJP was quick to demand a probe into Mr. Singh’s allegations. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh claimed that the former Home Secretary had tried to get a post-retirement position from the UPA government.
Employees withdrawn
Meanwhile, nearly a dozen government employees, mostly drawn from Central para-military forces and retained by Mr. Singh, have been asked to report to their respective organisations with immediate effect, sources in the Home Ministry said. However, security given to him by the Delhi Police has been kept intact so far.
Mr. Singh was not available on the phone for his response.
