Is it a Police Raj Here? Anand Prakash, CS

Port Blair, Dec. 22: In the controversial transfer issue of the SP, Anti Corruption Unit, Mrs Aslam Khan IPS, Andaman Chronicle met the Chief Secretary, who was along with a group of senior officers of the Admn.

“Mrs. Aslam Khan’s transfer was an administrative decision and there are no allegations against her,” said Mr. Anand Prakash IAS, Chief Secretary, speaking to the Chronicle. He added that the officer had committed a blunder by arresting four staff of Port Blair Municipal Council (PBMC), as she was not competent to carry out the arrest. As this was not a trap case, she was not supposed to arrest them without the permission of Secretary Vigilance or the CVO (the Chief Secretary himself), he said.

When it was pointed out that she was performing well, and her transfer has sent negative vibes in the society; he said that she was immature and inexperienced. He said she is a kid and added that she doesn’t have the authority to arrest them.

“How can she go on arresting and locking up people without proper authority and reason? Is this a Police Raj here?” he thundered.

When asked whether the PBMC debacle was the reason for the transfer, he brushed it aside and said that it was a routine transfer and he had forgiven her for the blunders she had committed.

When asked about the timing of the transfer, he said that the Lieutenant Governor had liked the way Mr Shibesh Singh IPS had handled the IRBn shootout case and was also impressed by the passing out parade the other day and wanted to give him a more challenging position, and hence was posted as SP, ACU and CID.

Anand Prakash also added that it has to be investigated whether it was a case of corruption or a procedural lapse.

Clarifying about the involvement of the four staff of PBMC, Rakesh Bali, Secretary, IP&T and Sports and the former Secretary of PBMC said that two of the officers were honest and all four of them were very hardworking. “How can I function if she locks up my trusted and hardworking staff?” he asked. He also said that there are corrupt officers in Anti-Corruption Unit and why did she not take action against them.

Why is she behind small people and not trapping big corrupt persons,” he asked.

To this Chronicle tried to ask Bali, what he meant by big people when the SP had arrested govt. officials upto the level of Executive Engineers. When asked to define ‘big’, he had no answer.

 

Rakesh Bali also derided the media and the comments appearing on social media and said that it doesn’t make any impact anywhere.