Top IPS officer trapped in Chhattisgarh political witch hunt

It is a classic case of persecution of a bureaucrat who refuses to toe a particular party’s – in power in the state – diktats. A plethora of criminal cases were lodged against him. He was suspended, jailed and compulsorily retired. 

Now judiciary has come to the rescue of Chhatisgarh cadre IPS officer of 1994 batch, Mr Gurjinder Pal Singh. Not only Chhatisgarh High Court stayed criminal proceedings against him in a ‘fabricated case’ but Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has also quashed state government’s orders retiring him compulsorily.

Mr Singh is a gallantry award winner and recipient of several commemorations and recommendations. His Annual Confidential Report (ACR) has mostly been marked 9 out of 10 by his superiors. His troubles started after he was posted as IG of Economic Offence wing (EOW) and Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) on February 27, 2019. The state government had changed barely three months ago with Mr Bhupesh Baghel of the Congress taking over as Chief Minister on December 17, 2018.

In his application before CAT, Mr Singh claimed that while investigating the high-profile Civil Supplies Scam worth over several thousand crores, he was subjected to political pressure to implicate certain people and weaken the case against some others including the main culprits, who had already been charge-sheeted.

PERSECUTION BEGINS

He was abruptly transferred as Director of State Police Academy, his ACR was downgraded to 6 with adverse remarks, three FIRs were filed against him within a month – for owning disproportionate assets, sedition and abetment of suicide in a six-years old incident. The then DGP instituted three inquiry committees against on a number of complaints received from private individuals. All these complaints were strangely received within a span of 24 hours – between July 12 and July 13, 2021. None of these inquiries have been completed till date. The last nail in proverbial coffin came when he was compulsorily retired in July 2023.

He ran from pillar to post challenging the FIRs, disciplinary action against him and his forced retirement. His condition worsened as he was put behind bars.

REINSTATEMENT ORDERED

Noting that FIRs were registered against him at the “behest of higher authorities of the (then Chhattisgarh) State government” as he did not toe its line, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) Tuesday directed the reinstatement within four weeks of a Chhattisgarh IPS officer suspended in 2021.

Initially, he was released on bail as the case ‘concocted against him’ was too weak and couldn’t stand in the court of law. He was accused of having assets disproportionate to his income. But the assets listed in his and his father’s name were actually somebody else’s properties. The two kg gold recovered from a scooter of a co-accused, too as per the CCTV footage, was found to have been planted by the police.

STANDS VINDICATED

Finally, Mr Singh stands vindicated. “The respondents (in this case the Union of India and the State of Chattisgarh) are directed to reinstate the applicant, with all consequential benefits, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order,” noted the CAT in its April 30 order.

There is sense of joy in the Singh family. Barred by court orders to speak to the media, Mr Singh was not available for comments but his wife Dr Manpreet Kaur’s joy knows no bounds. “I knew from first day that he was innocent. Now the entire world has accepted that. I am too grateful to the judiciary for seeing through the political designs. I am pained though that an upright officer had go through such an ordeal for standing by the law”, she told Indian Masterminds.

‘IMPLICATE RAMAN SINGH’

In February 2019, Singh was appointed as the head of an SIT set up to verify the allegations on former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh in an alleged multi crore public distribution system scam. Singh’s counsel Himanshu Pandey said that his client had conveyed to the then CM Bhupesh Baghel that the case against Raman Singh did not stand. Pandey alleged this infuriated the then CM, and hence “false FIRs were registered against him”.

“Since he (GP Singh) did not toe the line of the higher echelons of the State Government, he was unceremoniously subjected to vindictive action by way of registering three successive FIRs within a period of less than a month,” noted the CAT order.

EVIDENCE PLANTED

In the disproportionate assets FIR, it was alleged that Singh owned two kgs of gold which was recovered from one Mani Bhushan, the star witness in the case. Bhushan, however, deposed before a Raipur Court recently that the gold was planted by the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) officials, and further that the content relating to the sedition case was forged.

“From the statement of Mr. Mani Bhushan, we find substance in the case of the applicant that 2 kg gold and seditious material had been planted by the investigating officer illegally in order to frame him in a criminal case,” noted the CAT in the order.

Referring to the third FIR, the CAT said: “…it is clear from the fact that the said FIR was filed in respect of an incident, which took place six years ago, gives credence to the applicant’s contention that it got registered maliciously and with an ulterior motive in order to frame him.”