Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Modi scuttles chances of Kuldip becoming DGP

Ahmedabad: possibility of the Election Commission of India naming additional director general
Kuldip Sharma as the head of Gujarat Police ahead of the assembly elections due in
December.

The prospect of Sharma,who is the senior-most among all IPS officers of
Gujarat cadre,becoming the DGP on the intervention of the EC is making the
government nervous,given the deep-rooted distrust that exists between Modi and
Sharma.
At present,Sharma is on deputation to New Delhi at the Bureau of Police
Research and Development.There is no full-fledged DGP in Gujarat,where Chittaranjan
Singh is acting DGP.As per the EC manual,there should be a fullfledged DGP.If not,the
EC asks for a panel of three from which it picks one who is best-suited for the smooth
conduct of elections.
In 2007,the EC had removed P C Pande and appointed K R Kaushik in his place
as the DGP.This time,the likely panel of three may include Singh,Deepak Swaroop and
S K Saikia.The government could have included Vineet Gupta in the list but,as
additional director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),he is not interested in
coming back to Gujarat.
In order to keep Sharma out,the state government has dug up a 27-year-old case
relating to beating up an alleged smuggler,Haji Abdullah Haju Ibrahim,alias Ibhla
Seth,when Sharma was posted in Kutch.The government in February 2012 gave
permission to prosecute Sharma and others.
A fresh case was needed because an earlier charge against Sharma,which was
pressed by the government for an alleged fake encounter in Kutch was quashed and set
aside by the Gujarat high court.
Besides,there are two pending chargesheets against Sharma and one pending
prosecution.These will also come in the way of his elevation.
Sharma,who is a mentor of some of the rebel IPS officers of Gujarat who did
not toe the political line during the 2002 riots,is running out of time because he retires
in December 2012.
The Modi government became deeply suspicious of him when,as chief of CID
(Crime) in 2008,he had reportedly made out a case to arrest the then minister of state
for home,Amit Shah.