Hemant Soren govt reinstates Anurag Gupta as Jharkhand DGP

 IPS officer Anurag Gupta, who was removed from the post of Jharkhand DGP by the Election Commission ahead of the assembly polls, has been reinstated by the Hemant Soren government, an official said on Friday.

Gupta's reinstatement comes hours after Soren took oath as the 14th chief minister of Jharkhand on Thursday.

Gupta was removed from the DGP post due to his "history of election-related misconduct" in previous polls, and the commission had appointed 1989-batch Jharkhand cadre senior most IPS officer Ajay Kumar Singh as DGP on October 21.

"Anurag Gupta, Director General, Crime Investigation Department, has been given charge of Director General, Police....DGP Ajay Kumar Singh has been given charge of Chairman cum Managing Director of Jharkhand Police Housing Corporation Ltd," said a notification from the Department of Home, Prisons and Disaster Management.

The state went to polls in two phases on November 13 and 20 and the JMM-led alliance registered a stunning victory, securing 56 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, while the BJP-led NDA won 24 constituencies.

Gupta, a 1990-batch IPS officer, was earlier made acting DGP in July, replacing Singh.

Earlier, Singh was entrusted with the responsibility of the state's DGP in February 2023 after the retirement of his predecessor Neeraj Sinha.

Singh's appointment last year ended the row over the selection of the state's DGP. The Supreme Court had in January 2023 disposed of a contempt petition against the Jharkhand government and former police chief Neeraj Sinha.

The petitioner had alleged that Sinha had been occupying the post of DGP even after his superannuation on January 31, 2022.