In a significant development, Director General of Police (DGP) Bihar Gupteshwar Pandey, who made headlines during the investigation into the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, voluntarily retired from duty on Tuesday (September 22).
Pandey addressed a press conference Wednesday and said that he had withdrawn VRS from service and that it was his constitutional right to do so. Pandey added that he had been persecuted for the past two months and his life was turning miserable. “I received thousands of phone calls asking me about my retirement. I was fed up,” he said.
Pandey said that he decided to fight the Bombay police after Bihar police officers were ill-treated in Bombay. Pandey noted that he fought for Bihar’s prestige.
The former Bihar police chief said his VRS should not be linked to Sushant’s case and that anyone who does is making a mistake. Pandey added that he only wanted to help Sushant’s elderly and ailing father and the Supreme Court also supported the Bihar Police’s decision to file an FIR in Sushant’s case.
Pandey said that in his 34-year career he has never compromised with any criminal and was involved in more than 50 encounters.
“I have not affiliated with any political party so far and I have not made any decisions about it yet. As far as social work is concerned, I can do it without going into politics as well,” said Pandey.
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Pandey, a 1987 IPS officer from the Bihar cadre, openly criticized the Mumbai police in Sushant’s death case. He had also sparked controversy when he said actress Rhea Chakraborty did not have the “stature” to comment on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Notably, in 2014 Pandey had similarly applied for voluntary retirement as he was reportedly immersing himself in politics and hoping to get a BJP ticket. However, he failed to obtain a ticket and nine months after taking VRS, Pandey petitioned the Bihar government to allow him to withdraw his resignation.
His application was accepted by the government led by Nitish Kumar and the high-ranking policeman joined the job again. He became the DGP of the Bihar police just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
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