Fissures widen in UP IPS cadre over SSP removal

Lucknow : The suspension of SSP Gautam Buddha Nagar Vaibhav Krishna on Thursday evening by the Yogi Adityanath government has deepened fissures in the state''s IPS cadre.

According to sources, an ADG rank officer has reportedly written a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, asking him to take action against corrupt officer and investigate charges against them.

The ADG, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that in Vaibhav Krishna's case it was the whistleblower who had been penalized instead of those accused of corruption.

"The viral video issue is just an excuse to suspend Vaibhav Krishna.

The real reason is the powerful lobby of IPS officers who do not want any investigation in corruption matters.

The three-member committee set up to probe charges against five IPS officers, named by Vaibhav Krishna, who have been accused of having a nexus with journalists on corruption issues is just an eye wash," he said.

He cited the example of another senior IPS officer who has spent a large part of his career in suspension and said that if the officer was so inefficient, he should have been terminated instead of remaining suspended.

Vaibhav Krishna was suspended after a forensic lab in Gujarat confirmed the authenticity of the video chat with a woman that had gone viral on the social media a few days ago.

Krishna had termed the viral video as fake but the forensic report says that "No sign of edit, alteration, medication, morphing was observed in this video." Vaibhav Krishna had himself lodged an FIR in the case of the viral video.

Vaibhav Krishna also reportedly leaked a confidential letter that he had written to the state government accusing five officers of conniving with certain builders, extortionists and local journalists to ensure "transfers and postings" in exchange for money.