High profile IPS officer Basant Kumar Rath was removed as the inspector general of police (traffic) on Tuesday, 13 November, and attached to the office of Commandant General, Home Guards, PTI reported, citing officials.
Rath was replaced by Alok Kumar, who was earlier posted as IGP security, the officials said.
Kumar, an IPS officer of 1997 batch, was instrumental in unearthing the petrol scam in the Army in Ladakh during his posting as SSP Leh in the early 2000s.
Notably, Rath’s transfer came after he lashed out on Twitter at Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu over “traffic management issues in the city”.
Taking potshots at Mattu, the IPS officer had also told News18, “He should desist from taking me on. I have a better fan following than him. My constituency is bigger than him.”
Even before this, Mattu had sparred with Rath on the social media platform.
Rath had shot to fame for his unusual way of traffic management, which was very effective but also generated a lot of controversy.
The IPS officer from Odisha would dress in all black instead of donning the police uniform while on duty.
The social media savvy officer was hugely popular among the youngsters in Kashmir, a rarity for any police officer in the valley, as he would attend social functions like wedding functions of locals or just play cricket with boys in grounds of the city.
However, his stringent implementation of traffic rules meant he would court controversy very often.
(With inputs from PTI and News18.)
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