Mustafa asks Punjab govt to relieve him as DGP STF

IPS officer Mohmmad Mustafa Friday asked the Punjab government to relieve him as the chief of the anti-drug Special Task Force as he is "senior" to newly appointed police chief Dinkar Gupta.

Mustafa, a 1985-batch officer, said he has requested the Chief Minister's office to give me the charge of the state Human Rights Commission.

Notably, the Director General of Police (STF) reports to the DGP Punjab.

Mustafa, who was left out of the panel sent by the UPSC, said he will approach the Supreme Court for being "ignored" in the panel while alleging that there was a conspiracy to keep his name out.

"I will move the Supreme Court for my rights," Mustafa said, asserting that he fulfilled all the parameters as per the top court guidelines for judging the suitability of the person to head the state police.

"My name was not in the panel (sent by UPSC) despite fulfilling all the parameters," said Mustafa, whose wife Razia Sultana is a minister in Amarinder Singh cabinet.

In the UPSC meeting held in Delhi to discuss the panels sent by the state government for the selection of the next DGP of Punjab on February 4, the state was represented by Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh and DGP Suresh Arora.

On Thursday, Gupta was appointed as the Director General of the Punjab Police. He succeeded Suresh Arora, who had been on an extension after his retirement on September 30 last year.

Gupta became the new Punjab DGP after superseding five officers who are Smant Goel (who is on central deputation), DGP (STF) Mohd Mustafa, DGP (Law & Order) Hardeep Dhillon, DGP (Internal Vigilance Cell) Jasminder Singh and DGP (PSPCL) S Chattopadhayaya.

Dhillon and Jasminder are going to retire this year.

Gupta was chosen as the new DGP from the panel of three officers sent by the Union Public Service Commission.

The other two officers were DGP (Admin) M K Tiwari and DGP (Provisioning) V K Bhawra.