Targeted by Vasundhara Raje govt for acting against VHP, Bajrang Dal rioters: IPS officer
Former Bundi SP Pankaj Chaudhary said that he was removed
from the post for resisting pressure from the administration, including senior
IAS and IPS officers, to let the rioters go and “register false cases” against
Muslims instead.
An IPS officer has accused the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP
government in Rajasthan of targeting him after he refused to let rioters from
the VHP and Bajrang Dal go free last year despite “pressure from all levels of
government”. Former Bundi SP Pankaj Chaudhary said that he was removed from the
post for resisting pressure from the administration, including senior IAS and
IPS officers, to let the rioters go and “register false cases” against Muslims
instead.
On Monday, Chaudhary, who now heads the 11th Battalion of
the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary in New Delhi, was served a chargesheet by the
Rajasthan government, which accused him of not acting in time to tackle the
riots in Bundi’s Nainwa and Khanpur on September 12, 2014. Asked about
Chaudhary’s allegations, Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said the
government would respond after studying the officer’s official response. “He is
free to say anything. If we get something officially from him, we will
investigate and act accordingly,” Kataria said.
Chaudhary said the chargesheet has given him an opportunity
to expose “traitors” within the administration. “Riots don’t just happen. They
are made to happen, and if the police is allowed to act freely, nothing can go
wrong. But there are traitors within the government who could even sell the
country for their selfish gains,” Chaudhary told The Indian Express. “The
chargesheet has given me an opportunity to expose these traitors within the All
India Services. They are the ones who are scared of chargesheets, not those who
are patriots and followers of the Constitution,” the 2009-batch officer said.
A mosque was reportedly damaged and several vehicles set
ablaze in Nainwa and Khanpur last September after rumours spread of the
desecration of an idol inside a temple. Chaudhary said that on investigation,
including questioning of the temple priest, the police found the riots to have
been “completely manufactured”. “Everything was planned, targets were fixed as
to who would damage the bus, who would cause arson, etc. Soon, I started facing
pressure from all levels of government, including senior police and
administrative officials, to let the rioters go. I was under tremendous
pressure to let the rioters go free and instead, register false cases against
Muslims for inciting violence. But I resisted all pressure and refused. That is
when the government removed me on September 21,” he said.
“As the district SP,
I led a team of policemen who rounded up 11 persons…some from the VHP, others
from Bajrang Dal. All of them had criminal records. Five persons from the other
side (Muslims) were also detained and questioned. If we had not acted, the
situation would have escalated into a violent communal riot with serious
repercussions,” Chaudhary said. Responding to the main charge in the
chargesheet, Chaudhary said he had immediately left for the riot spot. In the
three hours that it took him to reach the area, Chaudhary said, he was in touch
with police officers on the spot. “That night, we rounded up six persons and
the next morning, imposed a curfew.
The Muslim community was very angry after the desecration of
the mosque but they did not retaliate because they had faith in what the police
had done,” he said. After he was removed, Chaudhary claimed, the rioters were
allowed to go free. “The morale of the force had plummeted. The team I had led
would call me and say that the rioters had become emboldened and were
challenging the police to act against them now that they had succeeded in getting
the SP removed,” the IPS officer said.
