Munda reshuffles bureaucracy

Arjun Munda, after becoming the eighth chief minister of Jharkhand on September 11, has reshuffled two dozen IAS and IPS officers including the superintendent of police (SP), Dhanbad, Suman Gupta, against whom the Opposition’s outcry started over the custodial death of 30-year-old Bokaro resident Dhirendra Singh at Dhanbad’s Barwaddah police station on November 17.

Dhirendra Singh had been picked up by police on November 16. On the same day, he was taken to the Barwaddah police station and arrested there under section 414 of the IPC and section 17 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act for carrying Maoist posters and possessing a stolen motorcycle.

 

His death sparked off protests and Opposition MLAs from the coal belt raised the issue recently in the Assembly function to commemorate statehood day where the Governor and the chief minister, among others, were present.

Barwaddah police station officer-in-charge Shahdeo Prasad has been suspended and Suman Gupta was transferred as SP, communication and wireless services, in Ranchi.

JB Tubid, who had earlier been the principal secretary of home, has been called back to home department as principal secretary.

The victim's father Sunder Singh in his complaint accused that Suman Gupta and three other policemen of killing his son.

Suman Gupta told media that autopsy report did not suggest the exact reason behind the young man’s death in custody. Only a minor bruise on the body was found.