HC seeks govt reply on pleas filed by IPS officer booked for sedition, graft

Bilaspur, Jul 15 (PTI): The Chhattisgarh High Court on Thursday sought a reply from the state government on two petitions filed by IPS officer GP Singh, who was suspended early this month in connection with a disproportionate asset case and later booked for sedition.
A single bench of Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas, while asking the government to furnish a reply, also directed the state to submit case diaries in both the matters (record of investigation), Singh’s counsel Kishore Bhaduri said. The high court posted the matter for further hearing on July 20, he said. In his pleas, the 1994-batch IPS officer has alleged prejudice in filing of the corruption case and sought quashing of the FIR in the sedition matter, Bhaduri said.
Singh, who was posted as director of the state police academy, was suspended on July 5 after a case was lodged against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Economic Offence Wing (EOW).
The disproportionate asset (DA) case was filed after the ACB/EOW carried out raids from July 1 to 3 at around 15 locations linked to the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP)-rank officer.
Searches at his premises had unearthed movable and immovable assets worth around Rs 10 crore, ACB officials had claimed.
Based on documents recovered during the raids, the Raipur police had, on July 8, registered a sedition case against Singh for allegedly “promoting enmity and hatching a conspiracy against the established government and public representatives”.
Later, Singh filed separate petitions in disproportionate asset (DA) and sedition cases, Bhaduri said.
In the plea related to the DA case, the officer has sought a stay on the probe of the ACB and EOW and claimed action had been taken against him with prejudice, he said.
The IPS officer has also sought that the DA case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or other independent agencies to ensure a fair probe, Bhaduri said.
The petitioner has demanded quashing of the FIR related to sedition, saying the case does not stand as it was lodged on the basis of a “torn” piece of paper which was not recovered from his house, the lawyer said.