SUSPENDED TN SP VICTIM OF Pauri remains undeveloped IPS-IAS GROUPISM, CLAIM KIN despite giving seven CMS
‘D. Kannan was just following orders of his senior EX-DGP Rajesh Das’. Prime Minister Modi, NSA Doval will have to intervene for its growth.
The sexual harassment complaint filed initially by a woman IPS officer against former Tamil Nadu Special Director General of Police (DGP) Rajesh Das on 22 February had not mentioned the name of former Superintendent of police of Chengalpattu, D. Kannan.
The name of Kannan— who was accused by the woman IPS officer of “blocking her official car” on the orders of Das, even as she was on her way to Chennai to file a complaint against Das—appears on the letter that the woman officer had sent on 26 February to the Home Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu.
As per the complainant, the alleged sexual harassment took place on 21 February when she was traveling in the same official car with Das.
The Sunday Guardian has accessed both these letters (dated 22 February and 26 February) written by the woman IPS officer.
The state government has removed Das from his post and a FIR has been lodged against him. A High court mandated inquiry is also being done in the case. Kannan, who was first transferred to a “non-election post” by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the poll-bound state was later suspended by the ECI which also directed disciplinary proceedings against him and relevant portions of Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Sections 341, 354 A (2) and 506 (1), slapped on him.
Sources close to Kannan, a state cadre policeman, who had joined the force in 2003, claimed that he was being “targeted” and made a scapegoat in the entire case, which had now turned, they claimed, into a platform to settle old score by groups of IAS, IPS officers.
The sources, including family members and close friends, claimed that Kannan, was not even “remotely” involved either directly or indirectly, in the alleged sexual harassment case— a fact which is even clear from the two complaints filed by the woman officer.
The Sunday Guardian reached out to the woman officer seeking her response on the matter, but none was received. Kannan, too, refused to respond to The Sunday Guardian’s queries.
“No one is denying that Kannan—on being asked by his superior officer DGP Das—moved towards the toll plaza from the place where he was on bandobast duty for the Chief Minister. The said order of the DGP stated that the DGP was urgently trying to talk to the woman IPS officer, but since her phone was not reachable, Kannan should intercept her and give her his own phone so that she could speak to the DGP. And that’s what he did. It is not that he took 100 men (as some media reports have stated) to intercept the car of the woman officer. Kannan at that time was traveling on bandobast duty with 10 of his men. And when they saw the Innova car of the woman officer approaching the Paranur toll plaza, they hand-signaled the driver to stop the car. Later, the woman officer, while sitting inside her car, spoke to the DGP on Kannan’s phone for about 12 minutes and then she left. All this (which happened on 22 February) happened around 1.30 pm and has been recorded in the CCTV cameras that are installed at the toll plaza. Everything is available on record,” a source close to Kannan told The Sunday Guardian while requesting anonymity fearing retribution against him and Kannan.
The car, according to the source, sped past the policemen who were signaling it to stop, after which the policemen standing with Kannan ran after the car. The car finally stopped near the cabin of the manager of the toll plaza after which Kannan and his team arrived near the car.
“Then the two (Kannan and the woman officer) started interacting during which the woman IPS officer asked Kannan how dare he stop the car of an IPS officer, to which he replied that he was also a SP level officer and he had stopped her only after getting an order from their superior DGP who wanted to speak to her and who had asked him to hand over his phone to her. Then Kannan rang the DGP (Das) and handed the phone to her,” a source who was present on the spot told The Sunday Guardian.
According to him, nothing on the lines of the woman officer’s car being blocked by 100 men or the keys or her car being pulled out ever took place.
According to another source close to Kannan, Kannan had no way of knowing what had happened between the woman IPS officer and Das and he was simply following the orders of DGP Das in good faith.
“If he would not have followed the innocuous orders of Das (of ensuring the woman IPS officer speaks to Das on Kannan’s phone) he would have been charged with insubordination. Kannan, when he intercepted the car of the woman IPS officer, had no knowledge of what had transpired between Das and the woman officer,” the source said.
Kannan has still not been summoned by the inquiry committee that is composed of senior IAS and IPS officers to present his side of the story. As per the FIR filed in the case by the woman IPS officer, she was intercepted by Kannan and his team on 22 February while she was on the way to submit her complaint to the Home Secretary, which she finally did on the same day within hours of the incident at the toll gate. However, in that letter, Kannan’s name has not been mentioned.
Kannan, who for the last 10 years has an “outstanding” Confidential Report (CR) from his seniors, had worked for three years between 2016-2018 in the ultra-sensitive post of SP of Special Branch or the Intelligence branch which particularly focuses on doing background check of IAS and IPS officers before they are posted at sensitive posts.
During this posting, he had, according to other police officers posted in Tamil Nadu, antagonized multiple IAS, IPS officers by giving a “negative report” which highlighted their land and cash dealings, along with proof, to the state government. As a result of Kannan’s report, these IAS, IPS officers could not get coveted posts. “He has got three medals in the last few years for outstanding public service which also included a successful conduct of the 48 days religious gathering that happens once every 40 years at the Devarajaswami temple, popularly known as Varadaraja Perumal Temple in July-august 2019 when he was posted as the SP of Kancheepuram district. This event sees 5 lakh devotees every day. The suspension of Kannan by the Election Commission of India (ECI) is very demoralizing for an honest and sincere officer like him. And we believe it is now only Prime Minister Modi who can intervene and ensure justice for Kannan who is being targeted by the influential IAS, IPS lobby of the state,” the source close to Kannan said.
Uttarakhand’s district Pauri which has the distinction of giving seven chief ministers, an NSA and an Army chief, is itself in a bad shape today. Apart from seven chief ministers who led the governments in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, who was the Army chief as well, belong to this important district of Uttarakhand.
BJP’S national media in-charge, Anil Baluni, also hails from Pauri. But unfortunately, the district of Pauri is lacking development. Several villages of this district are in a terrible condition in terms of basic amenities such as power, water and road. In Uttarakhand, Pauri saw the highest number of people migrating to other places. Uttarakhand was ruled by 10 CMS in a span of 20 years, but development is missing. What several of these CMS did was focused allegedly on their own development. People talk much about sons and daughters and other kin of these CMS owning hotels, NGOS and universities in other states. Pauri remained one of the most neglected regions. CMS coming from this district remained confined in Dehradun only. Political ambitions ran so high in the state that most of the CMS could not complete their full term. Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna was one of seven CMS from Pauri, who ruled Uttar Pradesh twice. UP CM Yogi Adityanath also belongs to Pauri. The newly-appointed CM of Uttarakhand, Tirath Singh Rawat also comes from Pauri. Trivendra Singh Rawat, who was removed as CM recently, is also from Pauri. B.C. Khanduri, who became Uttarakhand CM twice, and former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal were also from Pauri district. Both of them could not also complete the full term. Vijay Bahuguna of Congress, who led the government in Uttarakhand for a short period of time, belongs to Pauri.
BJP did a lot of experiments in terms of CMS in Uttarakhand. In the beginning itself, BJP made a mistake when it made a non-pahari Nityanand Swami the first CM of the state. When it realized the mistake, the party replaced him with Bhagat Singh Koshyari just six months before the elections. But Koshyari could not do any miracle and BJP lost the polls, following which Congress came to power.
Congress surprised all by appointing N.D. Tiwari the CM of Uttarakhand. Congress gave Tiwari the charge irrespective of the fact that he had opposed statehood for Uttarakhand. He lasted the full term but remained controversial. He also focused on plains instead of hills.
All the offices opened for the new state were in Dehradun, Haridwar and Haldwani. Hill region of the state was ignored. This led to migration from hills to the plains and Dehradun became the centre for employment seekers. As a result, Dehradun, which was a tourist place, got crowded and polluted.
When BJP came to power again, BC Khanduri was given the charge of the government. Aware of the problems of the hill region, Khanduri started taking some significant decisions but BJP replaced him with Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank who was also from Pauri district. Nishank had an experience of working as a minister in UP in the 90s. He had actually developed a good rapport with top and powerful BJP leaders of that time--rajnath Singh and Lal Krishna Advani. He got benefit of his rapport and got the post of CM in Uttarakhand. He was also surrounded by some controversies resulting from allegations of corruption. So, before he was removed by the high command, Khanduri was reappointed CM. “Imaandar Khanduri hain zaroori” slogan was given then.
Then came 2012 polls and BJP high command was taken aback by the defeat of the party in Uttarakhand. The blame for defeat of the Khanduri-led party was on the infighting of the BJP. Congress came to power and Vijay Bahuguna became the CM. He also lost the post following the tragedy of 2013. He was succeeded by Harish Rawat. In the meantime, the realignment of BJP central leadership happened and in 2014, Nishank was brought to the central politics. He was elected MP from Haridwar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then BJP president Amit Shah became all powerful at the central leadership by that time. The duo did a lot of experiments in 2017 in Uttarakhand. Congress saw massive revolt. Tirath Singh Rawat was also brought to the centre. BJP got a big victory due to the Modi wave. BJP repeated experiments of leadership like Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand, giving CM post to new face Trivendra Singh Rawat. But Rawat messed up it all. So fast change of CMS led to the hill region, particularly Pauri, being neglected as far as development is concerned. The district headquarter is Pauri but no officer remains stationed here. All they prefer to be in Dehradun. Trivendra Singh Rawat changed the name of Kotdwar, which is an important city of Pauri district, to Kanva Nagri. This move sparked a massive row. Newly appointed CM Tirath Singh Rawat will have to restore its old name.
Roads in this area are dilapidated. The road from Satpuli to Srinagar via Kanskhet, Pauri, Bamthi and Kyark is still not concretized even after 20 years. Similarly, the Kandi road connecting Garhwal, Haridwar and Nainital has fallen victim to politics. It is said that traders and politicians of UP are not allowing this road, connecting Garhwal and Kumaon, to be constructed. There is no industry in Pauri as well. The district is facing a water crisis despite the Ganga flowing just near it. Most of the CMS did not heed the demand for basic necessities of Pauri and hill people. It is neglected from tourism’s point of view also. No new tourism centre was developed. If at all money is allocated for some employment scheme, the officers pocket the amount in what indicates the corruption rampant there. Now, PM Modi and NSA Doval will have to intervene right away. The development of Uttarakhand, which is close to China border, is possible when there is a drastic plan for hills in consultation with the people living in that particular region.