IPS OFFICER SUSPENDED AFTER CONTROVERSIAL TWEETS

LUCKNOW: An IPS officer was suspended on Saturday after he alleged in a series of tweets that the Uttar Pradesh government was selectively targeting officials of the Yadav caste who are seen as supporters of the previous Samajwadi Party administration.

Himanshu Kumar — a 2010batch IPS officer of the UP cadre — tweeted on March 22 that there was a “rush among senior officers to suspend/send to reserve lines all police personnel who have a ‘Yadav’ surname.” His allegation was rebuffed by senior officials. But Kumar didn’t stop and his second post was more controversial. “Why is DGP office forcing officers to punish people in the name of caste?” he wrote on the microblogging site, tagging chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s official handle. He has since deleted the posts and issued a clarification, but continued to retweet others supporting him. “Some people have misunderstood my tweet. I support the initiative of the government,” he posted .

But the controversy refused to die down and an inquiry was ordered on Wednesday, culminating in his suspension as a disciplinary action. A senior home department official said the IPS officer was suspended as disciplinary action after a fact-finding report. Spokesman of home department, Vipin Mishra, confirmed the suspension. Kumar was attached with the DGP office.

Kumar was removed as superintendent of police, Firozabad, after the assembly elections – which the BJP won with a thumping majority.