The Hindu : New Delhi News : SHO transferred over resignation drama

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 21, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

SHO transferred over resignation drama

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 20. The Station House Officer (SHO) of Hauz Khas police station in South Delhi, Rajendra Bakshi, has been transferred to the Crime Against Women Cell following his spat with the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), Vivek Gogia, in the wake of which he announced his resignation on the wireless set on Monday evening. A vigilance inquiry has also been initiated into the conduct of the Inspector.

Bakshi has been replaced by Inspector Surender Sharma, SHO of Malviya Nagar police station. The Additional SHO (Malviya Nagar), Inspector Samay Singh, has been made the SHO for the time being and formal orders for full-fledged charge are likely to be passed soon.

The Joint Commissioner of Police (Vigilance), Kanwaljit Deol, has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the incident.

It has been alleged that on Monday evening, the Police Control Room got a message in which Inspector Bakshi said Dr. Gogia had misbehaved with him and that he was feeling insulted. In his message, relayed on wireless, Bakshi also said that he was feeling constrained to carry out the responsibilities as the Station House Officer and hence was resigning.

The message stunned the police top brass and the DCP and the Inspector also reportedly met with high-ranking officials.

As per the Inspector's complaint, the DCP used unparliamentary language against him over his failure to file a status report about a complaint which the court had demanded. The complaint pertains to one Balbir Singh Saini. He had approached the court a few months ago saying the Delhi police were not registering his case. He told the court that he was getting calls in which an unidentified person threatened to kill him. But he was turned away every time he approached the Hauz Khas police.

The court took cognisance of the complaint and asked the South Delhi police to file a status report. However, over a period of time the report was not filed. The standing counsel for the Delhi police, Mukta Gupta, then summoned Inspector Bakshi on Monday and asked him the reason for not filing the report.

Bakshi told her that the delay was on account of Dr. Gogia who was not signing on the report and that he needed some more time. Ms. Gupta then called up Dr. Gogia and asked him the reason for him not signing the report. The DCP asked her to give the phone to Bakshi and allegedly scolded him. A verbal argument ensued between them following which Bakshi relayed the message of his resignation.

It is learnt that it was during the tenure of the previous SHO that Mr. Singh had complained to the Hauz Khas police about the calls. Most of the proceedings had been completed by the time Bakshi took over about a couple of months ago. On the other hand, the standing counsel was also reported to be unhappy with the Inspector's behaviour and was contemplating a complaint against him when the spat broke out.

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