Under pressure to clear MLA, UP DSP quits

8216;8216;Enough is enough. I cannot function in the present set-up,8217;8217; Singh told The Indian Express. The second time he quit was also over a case involving Ansari.

Recently, Singh had submitted a report to the government suggesting that POTA be imposed on Ansari as an Army deserter from whom a Light Machine Gun LMG had been recovered had testified that it was being delivered to the MLA. The Army deserted had been arrested in a joint operation of the STF and Varanasi police last month.

However, the Mulayam Singh Yadav government had been reluctant as Ansari had by then extended his support to it. Instead of acting against the MLA, the IG, DIG of police and the SSP of the STF from Varanasi, where the gun was found, were removed.

The Assembly saw uproar over the resignation today, with the Opposition forcing adjournments twice. But the government refused respond.

8216;8216;My government will not react on one8217;s right to resign. But at the same time, I will like to make it clear that the government is against invoking POTA, like it opposed in the case of Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya,8217;8217; said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammed Azam Khan.

Leader of Opposition Lalji Tandon said the resignation had proved that 8216;8216;jungle raj prevails in the state8217;8217;. He added: 8216;8216;SP legislators and workers are openly beating up innocent people and are also involved in killings, but the government is sitting idle. The Governor will be forced to send a report that total anarchy prevails in the state if the present situation in which mafia elements are ruling the roost is not checked.8217;8217;

8220;Politicians and also police officers should read the writing on the wall. It is unfortunate that a police official has resigned because of growing interference of political leaders8230; Society will have to face the consequences if these things are not checked,8217;8217; former state police chief Shri Ram Arun told The Indian Express.

8216;8216;He knew that he would again be forced to backtrack if he had sent the resignation to the police chief. This time he was not ready to take any risk and faxed his resignation straight to the Governor,8217;8217; said a colleague of Singh.

The first time the DySP resigned was in 1998 when political pressure was put on him to release nearly one lakh litres of infected mustard oil in Varanasi. The oil belonged to an influential businessman who used his political clout to put pressure on Singh. However, when the officer stood his ground and sent his resignation, the authorities were forced to take action against the businessman.

One year later, Singh again put in his papers when faced with political pressure over the seizure in Barabanki of nearly 70 trucks laden with coal which were being transported without proper papers. The coal and trucks belonged to Ansari.