Days after an objectionable video of Gautambuddha Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vaibhav Krishna came to light, the IPS officer has been suspended by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Mr. Krishna had described the video as “morphed” and a move to “malign” his image. He filed an FIR and called it a move by his rivals to deflect attention from a “secret” report on rampant corruption in postings that he had submitted to the Chief Minister’s Office and the Director General of Police.
In a simultaneous action, five IPS officers named in the report have been removed from field postings and an SIT probe has been ordered.
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Official sources said the video was sent to the forensic lab in Gujarat and a preliminary report found it to be authentic. The inquiry report also found him guilty of violating the service rules as he leaked the secret report to the media. Mr. Krishna also made news when he allegedly sent police officers to Meerut to detain a senior journalist to know the source of the video. A departmental inquiry has been ordered against him.
‘Police-scribe nexus’
The leaked report detailed an alleged nexus between police officers and journalists to influence transfer postings and cases. The report was published after four journalists were arrested by the Gautambuddha Nagar police for alleged publication of fake news about police officers.
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Among the 14 IPS officers transferred by the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday are Himanshu Kumar, Ajaypal Sharma, Rajiv Narayan Mishra, Sudhir Kumar Singh and Ganesh Saha, whose names were mentioned in the report submitted by Mr. Krishna.
Fighting corruption
An official release said there was zero tolerance against corruption and a three-member Special Investigation Team has been constituted to investigate the matter and submit the report within 15 days.
The allegations of exchange of money for plum postings sullied the “clean” image projected by the Yogi Adityanath government and gave an opportunity to the Opposition to take on the government.