In the midst of uproar over a Uttar Pradesh Minister’s claim that he got Durga Shakti Nagpal suspended in 41 minutes, the IAS officer on Friday presented her case before Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani and pleaded ‘innocence’ of charges of demolition of boundary wall of a mosque in Noida.
Nagpal, who met the Chief Secretary for the first time after the controversy erupted following her suspension, was closeted with Jawed Usmani for about 15 minutes.
The officer is understood to have clarified that she had not endangered communal harmony by asking for a wall near an ‘illegal’ under-construction mosque to be demolished. Sources said that in her representation, the suspended IAS officer claimed that she was not at all guilty of mishandling the situation.
The IAS officer reportedly told the Chief Secretary that the villagers themselves razed the wall when she told them that Supreme Court rules forbid religious structures on Government land.
Nagpal had met the acting Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan on Monday last. Interestingly Ranjan is also the acting chairman of the Uttar Pradesh IAS Association, which had objected to the suspension of the official. Meanwhile, the Government is yet to give the suspended officer a chargesheet nor it has appointed Investigating Officer (IO) in the matter.
Nagpal was suspended on Saturday night for demolition of the boundary wall of a mosque in Kadalpur village in Gautambudh Nagar district as Government claimed the act could have triggered communal violence in the area.
However District Magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar district Ravikant Singh had denied any such apprehension and claimed that the boundary wall was demolished by the villagers themselves. He has also given a clean chit to the IAS officer presently working as the SDM.
As support grew for Nagpal, the Allahabad High Court sought a reply from the Centre and the State Government on the illegal mining issue, but declined to interfere in the suspension matter of the IAS officer.
Hearing a PIl on the suspension of the IAS officer, the lucknow bench of the court, comprising justices Devi Prasad Singh and Ashok Pal Singh, sought reply as to how many FIRs were lodged, how many dumpers were seized and how many people were arrested after the suspension of Nagpal.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party was in a spot over its leader Narinder Bhati’s controversial claim in a video that he got the IAS officer suspended in “41 minutes.” Two days after he denied his involvement in the suspension of the 28-year-old officer,
Bhati told a rally in Gautam Budh Nagar that he got Nagpal suspended.
“I spoke to Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav at 10.30 am and at 11 am the suspension order arrived...She behaved so badly and couldn’t last for 40 minutes after that. Within 41 minutes, the order came from lucknow and she was suspended,” the video showed him as saying.
Asked about the video clippings, he said, “Media was highlighting a concocted version. I had said that it was a victory of democracy. SDM’s suspension order was issued by State Government”.
later he changed his tune. “I was quoted out of context in the so-called visuals in some channels...Who am I to get an IAS suspendedIJ” Bhati said.
Taking strong exception to Bhati’s comments, the BSP demanded Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s resignation on moral grounds.
“The truth has been exposed in the claims of Samajwadi Party leader who is seen bragging that he got the IAS officer suspended in mere 41 minutes,” leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha and senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya said.
The SP leader’s claim shows that the Chief Minister had issued a wrong statement yesterday and so he should own moral responsibility and resign. “Either of them is not speaking the truth,” Maurya said.
Defending Bhati’s statement, the Samajwadi Party said that it is the duty of all party workers to forewarn the Chief Minister about anything that could disturb communal harmony in the state. “Wall of a mosque was demolished and that too in the month of Ramzan, it could have led to communal flare up... Bhati has informed the CM timely and the action taken against the IAS officer was justified as she did not act responsibly,” SP spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury said.
Another SP leader Naresh Agarwal said that Bhati merely tried to take credit for getting relief to people from the injustice of an officer. “ He did nothing wrong by making such claims,” he said.
Senior SP leader Azam Khan continued to target the suspended officer and cautioned the bureaucracy not to join issue with the political class. Khan said the bureaucrats should remain within their limits and realise that in democracy people ( leaders) were the real masters.
Strongly backing the suspended IAS officer, BJP alleged the UP Government was bringing in the communal angle into the issue of demolition of a mosque wall and insisted Nagpal was suspended as she had targeted the sand mafia.
Terming the SDM’s suspension as “unlawful”, the main opposition said the measure gives a clear message that “honesty will be punished and unlawful acts rewarded”.
“Religion is being brought into this issue by Samajwadi Party. The main issue here is that the sand mafia was punished by her,” BJP spokesperson Meenakshi lekhi told reporters.
lekhi maintained Durga Shakti had to face the wrath of the Akhilesh Yadav Government as she had seized more than 24 dump trucks and arrested several leaders of illegal sand-mining gangs. She had also impounded 297 vehicles and collected a fine of over Rs 80 lakh.
But law Minister Kapil Sibal remained evasive and said that the Centre cannot interfere or give an immediate decision on the issue. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said that the since the Minister for Personnel V Narayansami has already sought a report from the State Government on the issue, any decision can be taken only after going through the report and taking into account the officer’s version.
Congress spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das said though the party did not approve the demolition of the mosque wall, it condemns the suspension of officer as the decision appears to have been taken for her action against sand mafia.