IPS officer who led CID probe against Chandrababu Naidu suspended

Amaravati (The Uttam Hindu): The Andhra Pradesh government, on Tuesday, suspended senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and Additional Director General of Police N. Sanjay for violation of conduct rules. The General Administration Department issued an order, placing the former Chief of Crime Investigation Department (CID) under suspension under Rule 3 (1) of All India Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1969.

There were allegations that the 1993-batch IPS officer was involved in certain irregularities while serving as Director General of State Disaster Response and Fire Services. The IPS officer has been directed not to leave the headquarters. During the previous regime of the YSR Congress Party, Sanjay as the CID Chief supervised the probe into the cases related to the Andhra Pradesh Skill Development Corporation scam and alignment of Amaravati Inner Ring Road against the then Leader of the Opposition and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President, N. Chandrababu Naidu. These cases resulted in the arrest of Naidu who spent nearly two months in jail.

After Chandrababu Naidu assumed office as the Chief Minister in June following the electoral victory of the TDP-led NDA, Sanjay was transferred and asked to report to the office of the DGP. The new government also ordered the Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) Department to investigate the allegations against the IPS officer. The V&E Department reportedly found that Sanjay misused his official position to facilitate payment of Rs 1 crore to Sautrika Technologies and Infra Private Ltd. without any progress in the assigned work.

The IPS officer allegedly engaged in bid rigging and favouritism while awarding tenders, compromising the integrity of the process and betraying the public trust. The Vigilance report recommended the government to take criminal action against the company and impose appropriate legal measures on Sanjay under the Central Services Conduct Rules. The TDP-led coalition government had transferred senior IPS officers, including DGP-rank officials P. S. R. Anjanyeulu and P. V. Sunil Kumar, Additional DGP N. Sanjay, IGPs Kanthi Rana Tata, G. Pala Raju and K. Raghuram Reddy and DIG-rank officials R. N. Ammi Reddy, Ch. Vijaya Rao and Vishal Gunni.

These officials were transferred either by the Election Commission of India during the poll process by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led alliance government after coming to power in June. They were not given postings and were directed to report to the office of DGP. Some of these officers faced allegations of targeting TDP leaders, including Chandrababu Naidu during the YSR Congress party's rule.