Lokayukta Police Collect Documents In ‘misuse Of Position’ Case Against Retired IAS Officer Who Joined BJP

The Lokayukta police in Madhya Pradesh recently collected documents related to a case, in which a retired IAS officer is accused of misusing his official position while issuing a gun licence, a development coming in the wake of his joining the ruling BJP ahead of assembly polls, sources said.

The former officer – Ved Prakash – who was posted as a collector of Narsinghpur district earlier, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gwalior on Sunday during a meeting of the party’s state working committee.

Sources in the BJP said Prakash is lobbying for the saffron party’s ticket from Jabalpur West seat for the year-end assembly elections. The Lokayukta police’s Special Police Establishment recently gathered some documents in connection with the case against Prakash, the sources said.

“Ramakant Kourav had filed a complaint at the Lokayukta Headquarters in Bhopal, accusing Prakash of issuing the gun license by misusing his official position,” Lokayukta Jabalpur branch’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (SP) Dilip Jharwade told PTI.

After conducting investigation into the complaint, the Lokayukta police directed its Jabalpur branch to register a first information report (FIR) against Ved Prakash on December 7, he added.

When contacted, Kourav said from Narsinghpur that a Lokayukta team from Jabalpur collected some documents regarding the case against Prakash from the Narsinghpur collectorate and the SP office recently.

“I had filed the complaint with the Lokayukta police in December 2021 when Prakash, the then deputy secretary with MP labour department, was about to retire,” he added.

He alleged that investigation into the case is going on at a snail’s pace. Jabalpur Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Sanjay Sahu, however, said that investigation and evidence gathering takes time.

Asked about the deadline of filing chargesheet after registration of case, he said that there was no time limit for it in their department.

Deputy SP Jharwade said, “The Lokayukta police are investigating the case registered against former Narsinghpur district collector Ved Prakash, who is accused of misusing his official position in an issuance of gun licence.” He said that the case against Prakash was registered under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act on December 7 last year.

Talking to reporters, Prakash said, “I am active in politics and have recently joined the BJP. This has caused panic in the opposition and a conspiracy has been hatched to defame me. The fact is that if someone wants to work for the people, complaints against such persons come up.”

“After entering politics, I have to face all this. Such roadblocks can’t stop the people who want to work. They won’t succeed,” he said listing the work he had done for the uplift of Jabalpur as municipal commissioner and added that he had faced similar problems at that time as well.