One down, many more
on hitlist
By Deepal Trevedie
Chief minister Keshubhai Patel and minister of state for home Haren
Pandya are sure to win immense public accolade for suspending senior
IPS officer Gurudayal Singh, indisputably one of the most controversial
senior police officer of the state and the only one from Gujarat, who
in the past, has been alleged of helping Sikh terrorists in Punjab.
He had been named in some narcotics case also.
The unprecedented move
to suspend a senior officer of the rank of an additional director general
of police has obviously evoked strong reactions especially from the
police forces who feel that Mr Singh has been effectively "used" by
the BJP government to promote their campaign of a "clean and a transparent"
government. But this move is also likely to send a right message across
corrupt officials that the government is indeed keen to initiate stern
action against defaulters.
While some police officers,
especially those with a tag of being Congress protege, are shocked by
the government decision. Considering Mr Gurudayal Singh’s track record,
the decision to suspend him appears to be quite logical and reasonably
mass-oriented except that it had been long over due and unduly delayed.
Mr Singh rose in the limelight
in the mid-eighties when he was posted in Saurashtra. During his tenure
in Rajkot and Bhavnagar, there were allegations of his involvement with
terrorists in Punjab. A fiat registered in the name of Mr Singh was
once found to be used by a terrorist in Punjab and another time Mr Singh’s
spouse was also dragged into a controversy of having clandestinely helped
Sikh terrorists in procuring arms. However, both the times, Mr Gurudayal
Singh came out unscathed mainly because of the patronage of then Union
home minister Buta Singh, whom Mr Gurudayal Singh claimed to be a "close
relative."
The uncle-nephew relationship
saw Mr Gurudayal Singh getting pompous postings and a great clout amongst
the then ruling Congress party.
"Gurudayal Singh was so
powerful that he actually was believed to be running the home department.
At one period of time, during the Congress regime, it was said that
Gurudayal Singh had such connections with the high command that he could
even get not only police transfers done but also meddle in bureaucratic
transfers," an IPS officer says. Mr Gurudayal Singh attempted to manipulate
admissions in a medical college in Tripura where he was posted as a
resident commissioner, which brought forth his involvement in the admission
scam.
The CBI chargesheeted him
in 1997 and till Wednesday evening, Mr Singh was the additional DGP
of the state crime records bureau, Gandhinagar. This is the first time
since 1960 that the state government has suspended such a senior IPS
officer.
In last 10 years, there
have been about 8 suspensions but none from the senior level. The last
suspension was that of two IPS officers, Vipul Vijoy and Manoj Anand
in Surat, after the ganesh visarjan yatra went berserk compelling the
police to open fire which left nine dead. An independent judicial inquiry
recently absolved the role of these police officers.
Interestingly, it was exactly
a week before when Mr Pandya had announced that the BJP government will
initiate action against officers with a tainted service record. He had
emphasised that there are 18 such officers in state. However, chief
minister Keshubhai Patel had then ruled out action against Mr D.K Rao,
an IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, who was involved in the sensational
Nayna Sahni tandoor murder case and irregularities at Vishakhapatnam,
where he was on deputation.
The chief minister had
said that as the IAS officer had committed these offences outside Gujarat
and that at present they were concentrating only on officers having
indulged in irregularities in Gujarat.
Names of both Mr Gurudayal
Singh and Mr Rao figure in the list of corrupt officers prepared by
Mr N. Vittal of the Central Vigilance Commission.
According to top home department
sources, there was absolutely no difference of opinion between the department
officials and the ministerial bosses on the first name on the list of
the government who had to be suspended. "Gurudayal Singh is a perfect
choice. Just look at his record. He ought to have been dismissed a long
time ago," a senior home department official said on Wednesday.
"We are serious in what
we said. We want to make the government more transparent and our officials
more sincere, honest and accountable," chief minister Keshubhai Patel
said.
