Election Commission revokes suspension of ex-Telangana DGP

Election Commission of India (ECI) has revoked the suspension of Telangana’s former Director General of Police (DGP) Anjani Kumar, who was suspended for meeting now Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy while the counting of votes for the state Assembly polls was still underway.

The poll panel had suspended him for violating the Model of Conduct by Revanth Reddy, who was theTelangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president then

Following Anjani Kumar’s suspension, Ravi Gupta, Director General, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), was appointed as the DGP.

The High Commission lifted the suspension after Anjani Kumar submitted a clarification in which he said that he did not deliberately violate MCC.

The IPC officer told the poll panel that he went to Revanth Reddy’s house at his request.

He reportedly assured the Commission that the mistake will not be repeated in future.

The ECI on December 3 had directed the Chief Secretary to place Anjani Kumar under suspension and give charge of DGP to the next senior most eligible officer.

The poll panel took serious note of Anjani Kumar along with two other senior officials Sanjay Jain and Mahesh Bhagwat for meeting Revanth Reddy when the counting process was still underway.

The ECI observed that the action DGP meeting a contesting candidate and a star campaigner of the party with a flower bouquet at his residence is clear indication of malafide intention of seeking favour.

It was not immediately clear if Anjani Kumar will be reinstated as DGP or Ravi Gupta will continue in the post.

The Congress government headed by Revanth Reddy, which assumed office last week, will take a decision.

The government is likely to go for a major reshuffle in bureaucracy in the next few days.

Anjani Kumar had taken charge as DGP last year.

An officer1990 batch of the Indian Police Service (IPS), he served in many key positions.

He was also the Hyderabad police commissioner from 2018 to 2021.