Muktsar DC suspended over graft; Vigilance gets new chief
The Punjab government on Monday suspended Muktsar Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Tripathi and ordered a Vigilance probe against him over corruption accusations. Abhijit Kaplish has been posted as the new DC of Muktsar.
In a surprise move, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government also replaced state Vigilance Bureau chief Varinder Kumar with G Nageswara Rao.
Kumar is considered close to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He has not been given any posting and told to report to Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav.
The decisions were seen as an attempt by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to fall back on its anti-corruption agenda that had helped it storm to power in the 2022 state Assembly poll.
The move came days after the party lost power to the BJP in the national capital, following which it held a closed-door meeting with Punjab legislators in Delhi.
Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office said Kumar was replaced as there was “no affirmative action” by the bureau in several high-profile cases of corruption being investigated by it. Some MLAs had also complained about some junior officers in the bureau trying to extort money from other public dealing officials by threatening to embroil them in corruption cases.
A source said with the change at the top in the bureau, the probe in high-profile cases might speed up.
Meanwhile, AAP’s Muktsar MLA Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar had lodged a complaint against Tripathi to the party high command, accusing the officer of indulging in corruption.
Talking to The Tribune, Brar said he and other MLAs, including ministers, had complained about the officer’s “misdemeanours”.
“I have nothing personal against him. But we got elected on the anti-corruption agenda and the public in Muktsar was turning against us because of the officer. I thank Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for taking action against him,” he said.
Earlier, in a cryptic message sent by the ruling party to mediapersons, it was hinted that the transfer and suspension of the officers was part of the instructions issued by the state Personnel department last week.
The department had ordered all deputy commissioners, senior superintendents of police, sub-divisional magistrates and SHOs to check corruption at public offices, or face action.
Issuing the instructions, the Department of Personnel and Vigilance Secretary had said that corrupt practices undermine public trust, weaken institutions and hinder national growth, so top priority must be accorded to check this menace.
