Ranchi. The Election Commission of India has directed to immediately remove Jharkhand’s acting DGP Anurag Gupta from his post. The Commission has asked to hand over the charge of this post to the most senior officer of DGP rank in his place. After this order, it is considered certain that Ajay Kumar Singh will once again be posted on the post of DGP. It is believed that the state government will issue a notification in this regard today itself. It is being told that there are two reasons behind the Election Commission’s direction to remove Anurag Gupta from the post of DGP. One is that Gupta was posted as acting DGP on 24 July 2024. The second reason being said is that complaints were made against him in the Election Commission. Earlier, he was also accused of involvement in the horse trading case regarding Rajya Sabha elections. However, he later got a clean chit in this case. Before Anurag Gupta, 1989 batch IPS Ajay Kumar Singh was the DGP of the state. Recently, a contempt petition was filed in the Supreme Court, saying that his removal from the post was wrong. While hearing this, the Supreme Court had also issued a notice to acting DGP Gupta. The contempt petition has been filed on behalf of Jamshedpur resident Naresh Makani, in which it has been said that the Supreme Court guidelines have been violated in the appointment of the acting DGP.
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Makani said in his petition that the appointment to the DGP post on an ad-hoc basis is in violation of the Supreme Court’s decision given on July 3, 2018. In the decision of the Supreme Court, clear instructions have been given that acting DGP will not be appointed in any state. The petition also said that this is not the first time that the Jharkhand government has made an ad-hoc appointment to an important post like DGP. Earlier on June 8, 2019, the then DGP KN Choubey was transferred to the post of OSD (Modernization) Camp, New Delhi and 1987 batch IPS officer MV Rao was appointed in his place. Again Rao was removed and Neeraj Sinha was appointed in his place on 12 February 2021. Both these appointments were challenged in the Supreme Court. Sinha completed his two-year term on 12 February 2023, paving the way for the appointment of Ajay Kumar Singh on 15 February 2023. All these appointments were challenged in the Supreme Court.