Days after alleging conspiracy behind his transfer from the post of Additional District Magistrate of Barwani, young bureaucrat Lokesh Jangid has now reported threat to his life and has sought police protection. Jangid has accused his senior officer of getting him removed from field posting after he allegedly exposed anomalies in oxygen concentrators’ supply. A chat stating the same was leaked, following which the Madhya Pradesh government issued a notice to the IAS officer.
The IAS officer (27) has faced eight transfers in mere four years and the recent appointment at Barwani as ADM lasted for 42 days before he was sent back to Rajya Shiksha Kendra days ago.
The officer has written to Director General of Police, Madhya Pradesh, informing the latter about a threatening call received on Thursday night. The unknown caller threatened him for his acts of taking on the “high and mighty” and asked him to go on a leave for six months, issuing threat for his life, Jangid alleged.
The caller named two senior journalists claiming that these Pakistani elements were misusing him (Jangid).
The Congress, which has sided with Jangid after the leaked chat issue, again threw weight behind him on Friday. Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh also wrote to Home Minister Narottam Mishra objecting to delay in offering police protection to Lokesh Jangid, calling him a “dedicated and dutiful” officer who was serving the MP public. The officer was removed from Barwani after exposing Rs 55 lakh oxygen concentrator purchase scam, added Singh in the missive.
Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti national convener Dr Hiralal Alawa, who is an MLA on Congress ticket, wrote to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking a review of Jangid’s transfer. Alawa lauded Jangid’s tenure in Barwani saying the officer worked for the tribal and the poor amid COVID-19 crisis. The MLA demanded rollback of the transfer order.
Former Congress home minister Bala Bachchan, in a video on Friday, slammed the Barwani District Magistrate as a high-handed officer who messed up the COVID-19 situation in the district and misbehaves with public representatives.
Meanwhile the young officer, peeved by the unceremonious retreat to the state capital recently, had taken on his senior officer and the Barwani DM Shivraj Singh Verma in the IAS officers’ Whatsapp group, accusing Verma of gross corruption and being responsible for his removal as he “exposed anomalies in oxygen concentrators’ purchase”.
Jangid was schooled by seniors but he stood his ground declining to delete the posts following which he was axed from the group. The controversy grew when his chats leaked to the media.
Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang, after the chat leak incident, had claimed that transfer-posting is a routine process and should not be seen as malignant move from seniors. A show cause notice was issued to the said officer in the matter, Sarang had said couple of days ago.
While the DM in question had claimed that he would complain to the state government if the chats were true.
On Friday, BJP state secretary Rajneesh Agrawal commenting on the controversy said that it’s a matter between some officers and should be dealt with the code of conduct and provisions. On Congress targeting Barwani collector, Agrawal claimed that the opposition was just trying to fish into the troubled waters. “Why did not Bala Bachchan raise the issue of DM’s behaviour before the IAS issue came to the fore,” asked the BJP leader saying it is for the police to decide on security cover to Lokesh Jangid purely on the merit of the case.
In between, the young IAS officer has sought deputation to Maharashtra citing family reasons.
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