The Election Commission has ordered the transfer of the Director-General of Police (DGP) Bua Singh along with 10 senior officers in Uttar Pradesh on the eve of the Assembly polls. The policeman’s clout and political affiliations are well known. Sources say he treats Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son, Akhilesh Yadav, as his own offspring. When the killing and rape of children in Nithari was uncovered, Bua Singh saw no reason to resign. Now, follow- ing the marching orders, he has sought voluntary retirement.This is obviously a face-saving move since his retire- ment is due in June.
The ouster is reportedly due to Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla’s enmity towards Bua Singh. Chawla is one of the circle of close friends of Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi and apparently convinced her that Bua Singh’s continuance as DGP would jeopardize her party’s chances in the UP polls. According to sources, Chawla has been at daggers drawn with Bua Singh ever since the days when the Chawla family trust re- ceived a sum from the local area devel- opment funds of the local Member of Parliament. Bua Singh was then in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and, Chawla feels, could have helped but did not. Speaking to friends, Bua Singh has cited this longstanding grouse as the reason for his transfer.
Among the other Mulayam men for whom there has been no escape this time is Navneet Sikera. Sikera was Varanasi SSP and was away at a fam- ily function of the chief minister in his village when the bomb blasts oc- curred in Varanasi in 2006. However, being close to the chief minister, he did not pay for his absence but secured another plum posting at Meerut. A similar case was that of Devdutt, the Meerut Commissioner who has also been shifted. He was Chief Execu- tive Officer, NOIDA, when news of manipulation in the allotment of plots in the area through lottery forced his transfer. But, rather than a punishment posting, he was sent to Meerut.
