Has IPS Officer Ashish Singh Resumed Duty? Odisha DGP Clarifies After Home Dept Seeks Info

Bhubaneswar: A day after Home Department sought whereabouts of IPS officer Ashish Kumar Singh, Odisha DGP Arun Kumar Sarangi on Friday said that he had resumed duty as DIG, Special Intelligence Wing, on June 3.

“He was sanctioned leave from May 4 to June 2 and accordingly joined back on June 3. We were all aware of it. Our department must have received his joining report, which is a routine correspondence. It should have been sent to the Home Department. I will look into as why it was not done,” he told reporters.

The DGP further stated that Singh had attended two department meetings prior to the one on Rath Yatra where feedback of all senior officers of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and those having experience of conducting the annual festival was sought. “He was also present at the meeting on the new criminal laws,” he added.

On Thursday, additional secretary, Home, Muralidhar Mallik had requested the DGP to furnish information about Singh as there is no communication from him regarding resumption of his duty.

Interestingly, though Singh was present at Rath Yatra coordination meeting chaired by the DGP on June 26, the department’s letter made it apparent that it was not aware about it.

Singh was allowed to avail earned leave (EL) for one month from May 4 on health grounds. However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) recommended action against him for ‘misrepresentation of fact’ about his health condition. The special medical board of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, had also declared the 2010-batch IPS officer physically and mentally fit after conducting an examination on the direction of the commission. “The commission, prima facie, found it to be a case of misrepresentation of fact on part of Singh. It is directed that the report of the special medical board of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar be forwarded to chief secretary for appropriate necessary action against the officer as deemed fit,” the ECI had said in a letter to the CEO, Odisha, earlier this month.