Raising speculation about his political ambitions, Gupteshwar Pandey, the former DGP of Bihar, met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday. The news of the meeting gave rise to rumours he would join the JD(U). However, Pandey told mediapersons, “I came here to meet CM Nitish Kumar and to thank him as he gave me absolute freedom to serve my duties as DGP. I have yet not taken any decision on contesting polls.”
The voluntary retirement application of Gupteshwar Pandey was accepted by the Bihar government with effect from September 22.
Gupteshwar Pandey had courted headlines, and controversy, for his statements in support of a CBI probe over the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in Mumbai in June. Pandey had also criticised the Mumbai Police's handling of the probe into the case.
Pandey had remained noncommittal about his political plans in the days after his retirement. It was earlier speculated he could contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls from Buxar on a ticket from the NDA constituents.
Interestingly, Pandey had quit the IPS in 2009 to contest the parliamentary polls that year on a BJP ticket. However, his resignation was not accepted by the Bihar government and he was allowed to return to service.
Pandey's move to quit had attracted considerable criticism from opposition parties. Both the Shiv Sena and Congress accused him of using the Sushant Singh Rajput case as a launchpad for political growth. On Friday, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh accused Pandey of speaking like a "senior BJP leader".
"You saw over the past one-and-half or two months that Pandey, despite being a senior police official, would speak as if he was a senior BJP leader. And it has turned out to be true... He has resigned... the only thing I want to say is that it was the BJPs conspiracy to defame Maharashtra and its police eying the Bihar polls," Deshmukh said.
Questions have also been asked about the Bihar government accepting Pandey's VRS request within just 24 hours. The standard notice period for employees availing of VRS is three months.
‘Robin Hood’ video
Pandey was criticised heavily after a song went viral recently, highlighting his achievements and calling him “Bihar’s Robin Hood”. The song also referred to the Sushant Singh Rajput case. The Indian Police Foundation, an independent think tank, tweeted “A State DGP circulating such video is in poor taste, demeaning his office and uniform. Sets a bad example for his juniors. It is also a violation of the conduct rules.”
