Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey set to join politics after early retirement

On Sep 23, 2020

Patna: Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Gupteshwar Pandey has taken voluntary retirement and is expected to join politics ahead of the state assembly polls. Pandey’s request for early retirement has been accepted by the Governor Phagu Chauhan.

Pandey is a senior officer of the Indian Police Service. Political circles were rife with speculations about Pandey’s entry into politics after his recent tweet in which he has said that he will come live on September 23 and tell his story. Pandey’s appearance live on social media platforms for ‘Meri Kahani, Meri Jubani’ is being seen as a sign of his activism in politics.

Serving as Inspector General of Police, Pandey had taken voluntary retirement from service in 2009 to allegedly contest the Loksabha elections from Buxar seat on a BJP ticket. Since Pandey was not offered a ticket by the party, he had later applied to return to service and was approved by the Nitish Kumar government 9 months later. Within 10 years, Pandey has been promoted and was serving the state police force as DGP.

Pandey was recently involved in a controversy after his ‘aukat’ comment on Rhea Chakraborty, a suspect in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and arrested on charges of drug peddling by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde, has criticised Pandey over his retirement announcement.

Maneshinde has said, “The Bihar Government and the Central Government took a decision in less than 24 hours on the application filed for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) by Pandey. This is similar to the move of Bihar government that had earlier transferred the FIR against Rhea to the CBI and the Center had cleared it in no time. This is not justice for Sushant Singh Rajput, but justice for Gupteshwar Pandey.”