ADG Arun Kumar removed, Mukul Goel replaces him
LUCKNOW: The state government on Thursday removed ADG (law and order) Arun Kumar from his post and attached him to the director-general of police office. ADG (railways) Mukul Goel has replaced Kumar.
The replacement comes in the backdrop of the state government facing flak for its alleged failure to control the recent communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining districts.
However, special secretary Arun Kumar Mishra said Arun Kumar was removed in public interest. Sources, meanwhile, said more heads were likely to roll. DGP Deo Raj Nagar and principal secretary, home R M Srivastava may also be shifted, the sources said. Opposition political parties have already demanded removal of the two officials.
A 1987 batch IPS officer, Goel served on significant posts during the last regime of Samajwadi Party (2003-07). He was suspended along with 12 IPS officers after Mayawati government came to power in March 2007 and ordered a probe into the police constable recruitment scam. FIRs were also filed against Goel and the 12 other IPS officers in the case. However, in December 2007 the state government revoked the suspension order. Goel later proceeded on central deputation and was posted in National Disaster Response Force and Civil Defence, New Delhi.
After SP returned to power in March 2012, Goel returned as IG, Bareilly zone. On August 28 he was promoted to ADG rank.
Meanwhile, the countdown for Kumar’s removal started after communal clashes broke out in Muzaf far nagar and adjoining districts on September 7. Expressing dissatisfaction over political interference in the working of the police he went on leave on September 19, causing major embarrassment to the state government. He joined on September 23 and told media persons he took the leave to visit a religious place.
Sources said Kumar had applied for central deputation and urged the UP government to relieve him. Earlier he has served as joint director in the CBI.
On September 24, DGP Nagar visited Muzaffarnagar to take stock of the situation. He said due to lack of proper policing the riot spread to rural areas. “Though the district was sensitive, adequate police force was not deployed to maintain law and order,” Nagar had said.
The state government has already suspended for mer SSP Muzaffarnagar Subhash Chandra Dubey. The present SSP Praveen Kumar on Wednesday was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi after he complained of ill health.
BSP national general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya had said on September 6 the DGP was camping in Muzaffarnagar and the riots broke out in the city after he left the place.