New Delhi: IPS officer Basant Rath, known as Jammu and Kashmir’s ‘Singham’, a moniker inspired by Ajay Devgn’s tough cop character from the movie of the same name, resigned from the Indian Police Service Sunday.
He tweeted a picture of his resignation letter and hinted that he may be leaving to join the “noble profession” of politics.
Politics is a noble profession. pic.twitter.com/K6HckP4VXp
— ବସନ୍ତ بسنت बसंत (@KangriCarrier) June 26, 2022
He was suspended by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2020 for alleged ‘gross misconduct’. His suspension came a fortnight after he lodged a complaint against Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh.
Rath and Singh had allegedly been involved in a social media tiff in 2020. In this war of words, Rath had reportedly referred to Singh, a 1987-batch IPS officer, as “Dilloo” and made allegations of land grabbing and connivance against him that were believed to be “defamatory and derogatory”.
The order by the MHA against Rath, who was at that time serving as the inspector general of police (IGP) Home Guards in Jammu and Kashmir, read: “A disciplinary proceeding against Shri Basant Rath (IPS: RR: 2000, JK) is contemplated in connection with repeated instances of gross misconduct and misbehaviour, which have been brought to the notice of the Government”.
Despite this controversy, Rath, the 2000 batch IPS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, had a huge fan base — earned because of his unorthodox but effective style of policing in regulating traffic during his time as the IGP.
Also read: ‘They give me free publicity’: J&K traffic chief Basant Rath undeterred by controversies
No stranger to controversy
The Odisha-born officer has made headlines in the past for both controversies and good deeds alike.
As the IGP Traffic, he had gotten on the wrong side of many army officials and politicians, who were chided by him for not following rules.
In 2018, he was involved in another altercation with a senior that had led to his removal from the post of IGP Traffic. His transfer to IGP Home Guards in November 2018 came days after he had a verbal argument with the former mayor of Srinagar and People’s Conference leader Junaid Mattu.
The same year, Rath was also caught on camera slapping a young man. This incident, that later came to be known as “slapgate”, had sparked anger among the media as the young man in the video was reported to be a journalist.
The man drew Rath’s ire after asking him some “political questions” while recording the officer, allegedly without consent. Rath later issued a statement claiming that he regretted his decision, but by then several political leaders had demanded action against him, labelling him as a “power-drunk” IPS officer.
But Rath, a JNU alumnus, had also earned significant goodwill during his posting in Kashmir, where he had distributed free books to students preparing for competitive exams. It was reported that he would frequently visit Srinagar’s flea market and put up his own stall of hundreds of books every week for anyone to take for free — no questions asked.
Popular film director Mahesh Bhatt had once even shown interest in making a movie on Rath. The IPS officer, who has authored a collection of verses titled Own Me, Srinagar, was described as an ‘enigmatic poet’ by Bhatt.
Rath is also outspoken.
In an infamous social media post, made right after taking over as IGP Traffic in 2018, Rath had drawn comparisons between helmets and condoms for their use as “protection”.
He had once also written an open letter to a TV news anchor, criticising him for not highlighting the plight of the people living in J&K and instead calling JNU students ‘anti-national’.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Basant Rath, unorthodox cop & darling of J&K’s netizens, shunted out after spat with mayor