Jaipur: An IPS officer was transferred two days after he reopened the history sheet of the father of a Congress MLA in Rajasthan, who had allegedly been involved in smuggling and other anti-social activities.
Superintendent of Police, Jaisalmer, Pankaj Choudhary said, "As an officer of the state police department, I will soon be shifting to the new place." Choudhary said he had reopened history-sheets against several persons, including the one against Gazi Fakir, father of Pokhran Congress MLA Saleh Mohammed, on July 31 after a spurt in crime in the golden fort city.
He was transferred on August two. Meanwhile, a bandh was observed against alleged "untimely" transfer of the IPS officer from the district by the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan.
Businessmen, hoteliers, and tour operators led the shut down and held a rally demanding revocation of the transfer order, police said. The protesters alleged that the "honest and dedicated" officer, who had cracked down on crime, had been deliberately transferred under political pressure to Kishangarh in Ajmer as Police Training Services Commandant, said Kailash Meghwal, in-charge of special police branch.
They marched from Gadhisar Talab to the Collectorate in the morning and submitted a memorandum to the Collector on the issue. When contacted on telephone, the outgoing SP told PTI that his transfer was "routine".
He said that the state government had on August 2 brought out a list of officers who were being given new postings. Rajasthan Chief Secretary CK Mathew said that transfers in the police department were effected by the state home department, adding he was not aware about the details.
State home department Additional Chief Secretary Ashok Sampatram could not be reached for comment. A history sheet of Fakir was opened for the first time on July 31, 1965 but that file went missing in 1984. Although the history sheet was reopened after six years in 1990, it was closed in May 2011 by an ASP-rank official when he had been holding charge as SP. 
Reacting to the SP's transfer, Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said that the matter should not be compared to the suspension of IAS officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal in Uttar Pradesh. Nagpal, the Gautam Budh Nagar SDM who had launched a crackdown on illegal mining in her area, was suspended on July 27 by the Samajwadi Party government in UP for ostensibly ordering the demolition of a wall of a mosque.
"The transfer... might have been done from an administrative point of view. I am not fully aware of the situation yet. "This case should not be linked to Nagpal's case. We will talk after we get complete information on the matter," Alvi said.
Meanwhile, Fakir's son and Congress MLA Saleh Mohammed has said the entire matter was suggestive of a "political conspiracy" by rival BJP and RSS members to weaken his political hold and defame his 78-year-old father.
Saleh said that his father has been without hearing for the last 40 years. This was the fourth time that a Jaisalmer SP had opened the history sheet of Fakir, Saleh said. He added that since 1965, different police heads in Jaisalmer had opened investigation against his father, although all those were closed as the cases were weak.
"There is no case against my father so far," Saleh claimed. "Let the state government conduct an independent probe into the matter," he said. With Rajasthan headed for Assembly elections, Saleh alleged that BJP was trying to chip away at his political base.
"Under the Gehlot government, I have never (applied) any political pressure either on the bureaucracy or the police," he said. "I heard a false criminal case concerning the beating up of a cop was registered against me at Jaisalmer Sadar police station yesterday... this is all part of a political conspiracy," he said.
Out of a list of 49 IPS officers to be transferred, 20 district SPs, including Choudhary, were given new appointments, Saleh said, adding "why am I blamed for it". State BJP Vice-President Arun Chaturvedi has slammed the transfers of honest officers which he said were being done out of prejudice and political enmity.
Chaturvedi said, "Fakir has been known for decades for his smuggling and terror activities along the Rajasthan border... the Congress government, which used to shelter smugglers in the border districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer, is demoralising officers through transfers."