J&K IPS officer resigns from services to join politics

New Delhi, June 27

Senior IPS officer Basant Rath in a letter to the Jammu and Kashmir government offered to resign from Indian Police Services to join politics.

In a letter dated June 25 addressing the Chief Secretary of J&K, officer Basant Rath wrote, "I wish to resign from the Indian Police Services in order to be able to participate in electoral politics. Please consider this letter as my request for resignation/voluntary retirement and process it accordingly. I will be grateful ".

The letter was also sent to DGP J&K Dilbag Singh and Commandant General HG/CD & SDRF J&K Hemant Kumar Lohia. 

A 2000 batch IPS officer of J&K cadre, Rath  was suspended by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2020 for alleged ‘gross misconduct’. His suspension came a fortnight after he lodged a complaint against Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh.

Rath and Singh had allegedly been involved in a social media tiff in 2020. In this war of words, Rath had referred to Singh as “Dilloo” and made allegations of land grabbing and connivance against him that were believed to be “defamatory and derogatory”. 

Rath has served in J&K in several capacities, including IGP Traffic that brought him severe appreciation and criticism. Hailing from Odisha, Rath did his Master’s in Sociology from the Jawaharlal Nehru University before joining the IPS. In 2018, he was promoted as IGP.

Rath is believed to be joining the BJP and expressed that he will contest from Kashmir.