Riot politics at work? Senior UP cop Arun Kumar goes on leave

Arun Kumar lead probe into Muzaffarnagar communal violence. He went on leave after senior Samajwadi Party minister Azam Khan’s role in the riots came into focus. HT reports.

Did additional director general of police (law and order) Arun Kumar go on a three-day leave from Wednesday because he is upset over political interference in the working of the police during the Muzaffarnagar communal violence?

Many people believe so because the officer, known for putting duty above everything else and currently leading the probe into one of the most violent communal flare-ups, decided to go on leave when senior Samajwadi Party minister Azam Khan’s role has come into focus for allegedly asking the police to go slow in controlling the riots.

But state home department sources said Kumar has moved an application reminding the government of his earlier request for permission to go on central deputation. The sources said long before the communal violence erupted in the state, Kumar had applied for a plum post in the central government.

The government will ask the director general of police to comment on Kumar’s plea. The ADG had camped for a week in the violence-hit Muzaffarnagar region and only moved out after normalcy was restored.

After serving as joint director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) a few years ago and the officer-in-charge of the Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj murder cases, he returned to the parent UP cadre during the Bahujan Samaj Party government.

Akhilesh Yadav, facing flak for rising crime graph in the state, had elevated him to the post of ADG (law and order).

(With PTI inputs)