Principal Secy Amitabh Gupta, blamed for Wadhawans’ trip during lockdown, is Pune Police chief

Gupta's new posting is among the transfer of 50 other IPS officers by the Maharashtra govt, which said that 41 officers have been given new assignments.

IPS Officer Amitabh Gupta | File Photo | AFP

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has transferred over 50 IPS officers, including the home department’s principal secretary (special) Amitabh Gupta.

Gupta will be the new police commissioner of Pune, according to a government order issued on Thursday evening.

Gupta was in news earlier this year after he allowed businessmen brothers Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, under scanner in connection with the alleged Yes Bank and Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank scams, to travel from Khandala near Pune to Mahabaleshwar in Satara district amid lockdown.

He was sent on compulsory leave by the state government following uproar over the travel permit, but was later exonerated by a panel probing the matter.

The Maharashtra government order said that 41 officers have been allotted new assignments, while the remaining bureaucrats have not yet been given fresh postings.

Incumbent Pune police commissioner K Venkatesham has been transferred as additional director general of police (Special Campaign), while Deputy Commissioner of Police (Anti-Narcotics Cell) Shivdeep Lande has been promoted as Deputy Inspector General of Anti-Terrorism Squad in Mumbai.