Goa demolition row: MHA moves out DGP amid allegations that he ‘pressured’ police

The purported report claimed that the DGP Singh was “continuously pressuring” the police officer to allow the demolition and warned of “consequences” if work didn’t begin in 10 minutes. It quoted the DGP as saying that a Mumbai-based woman was the owner of the property and that there was “no need to take action into the complaint”.

It also said that one police officer received a call from the DGP later that day asking him “why the work of demolition” had been stopped.

DGP Singh had denied allegations, saying they were “baseless, invented and preposterous”.

The incident had snowballed into a political slugfest, with the Opposition demanding a high-level inquiry committee under a retired high court judge to probe the case and alleging that the act was perpetrated by “land and real-estate mafia”. The Indian Express had reported that following the report, the state government had written to the MHA recommending Singh’s transfer.

Singh, a 1996-batch IPS officer from AGMUT cadre, was appointed Goa’s DGP in March 2022. In an earlier stint, he was posted as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in Goa for over three years.