Bhubaneshwar: The Odisha government has initiated action against D S Kutey (IPS: 1997: OD), a former special secretary Chief Minister’s Office and Ashish Singh (IPS: 2004: OD), who was serving as Inspector General (CM’s security), with the sanction of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
In its charges, the state government claims that Kutey, whom the EC had suspended in May over alleged “election interference”, had directed the Khurda district collector to arrest a candidate — BJP’s Prasanta Jagadev — on the day of polling on May 25. He is also accused of making calls to the additional chief election officer and chairman of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) over a political advertisement from a party.
Singh too came under the ECI scanner for going on “medical leave” from May 4, even though a medical board from the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, had eventually declared him “mentally and physically fit”. Based on this, the poll panel had found that it was a case of “misrepresentation of facts”, the charges against him state.
