"Life Is In Danger": IPS Officer Faces Sedition Case For "Conspiracy" Against Government
An IPS officer, who was suspended earlier this week after he was charged with corruption and disproportionate assets following searches by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW), has been booked for sedition in Chhattisgarh.
G P Singh, a 1994-batch officer, was earlier Additional Director General (ADG) of the ACB and also served as Inspector General (IG), Raipur. He was posted as head of the police training academy before being suspended on July 5.??
According to police, the documents recovered during the raids revealed that Singh was allegedly involved in promoting enmity and hatching a conspiracy against the established government and public representatives.
Charges against officer
Singh was booked under IPC sections 124-A (sedition) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) of the IPC at Raipur's City Kotwali police station late on Thursday night, Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Yadav said.
As per HT, a copy of the FIR, said the seized documents contain ¡°provocative contents that can promote hatred and dissatisfaction against the constitutionally formed government¡±.
The FIR said the case has been registered on the basis of a 48-page document ACB and EOW submitted after a primary investigation. ¡°The documents submitted by the ACB were examined after taking legal opinion. An FIR has been registered under sections related to sedition and hate speech,¡± said a police officer, who did not want to be named, reported HT.
Contents of the FIR
The FIR said ACB recovered pieces of torn papers and when they were rearranged, ¡°serious and sensitive contents were found¡±. ¡°Objectionable comments against leaders of reputed political parties along with detailed plans of conspiracy were mentioned in these papers. Secret analysis related to representatives and candidates of different assembly constituencies along with comments on serious issues of the concerned area were also written on seized papers. The papers also contained comments on several government schemes, policies, social and religious issues,¡± the FIR said.
It was not immediately clear who these people and parties were.
Income Tax investigation underway
Singh, who is also facing an Income Tax investigation, is alleged to have carried out several benami transactions and acquired disproportionate assets across 15 locations in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
¡°He tried to delay the raid¡ meanwhile, he was destroying evidence. However, the documents seized from the raid are spurious, objectionable and clearly seek to incite disharmony,¡± said a senior police officer.
On Friday, Singh moved the Chhattisgarh High Court through his lawyer Kishore Bhaduri, demanding a CBI probe into the issue. ¡°My client is not asking for the FIR to be quashed. He is just stating that his life is in danger as the entire police machinery is working with bias against him. We are trying to urge the court to involve the CBI for a fair investigation,¡± Bhaduri said.
The state government also filed a caveat petition, seeking to be heard in the petition filed by Singh. The court is expected to hear the matter next week.?
