Recently, a video of senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer KK Pathak, the Additional Chief Secretary of Excise Prohibition and registration department as well as Director General (DG) of Bihar Institute of Public Administration & Rural Development (BIPARD), abusing a deputy collector and criticizing the traffic sense of Biharis, went viral.
A week later, harassment of another officer by a senior officer came to light. Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Vikas Vaibhav, who is currently the Inspector General (IG) of Homeguards and Fire Services, has made serious allegations against his immediate senior DG Shobha Ohatker.
On February 9, at 1.43 am, IPS Vikas Vaibhav tweeted: ‘I was appointed the IG, home guards and fire services on 18.10.2022 and since then I have been taking all necessary steps to discharge my duty but every day I am unnecessarily being abused by DG madam of which I have recording. I am very shocked.”
Although he deleted the tweet, the damage was done as its screenshots went viral.
THE ACCUSATIONS, NOTICE
On other social media platforms, the aggrieved IPS officer accused Ohatker of hurling choicest abuses to his wife and mother and accused ‘Biharis’ of slacking. Vaibhav was disturbed by the behaviour of his senior and applied for two months leave, which was later turned down.
Subsequently, Ohatker sent a notice to Vaibhav on Thursday, saying he violated the All India Services Conduct Rules and the Official Secrets Act, as he claimed that he had audio recordings to back his allegations. The IG was given 24 hours to put forth his stand. But Vaibhav did not respond to the show-cause notice till February 12 and instead attended a family function in Siliguri.
On February 12, Vaibhav received a 65-page show-cause notice from the home department of Bihar, to which he has to answer within seven days. CNN-News18 has the exclusive access to notice which states: “Shri Vaibhav is an irresponsible and negligent officer. Most of the time of his departmental work is spent in conducting meetings and social media related to Let’s Inspire Bihar. He is not complying with the instructions given by the senior officials. Because of his activities, inaction, indiscipline, violation of orders, dereliction of duty, and the said conduct of Mr. Vaibhav is a gross violation of the relevant provisions of the All India Service Conduct Rules, 1968.”
SOURCES SPEAK
Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, a confidant from the Fire Services department said that Ohatker had been rude from day one since Vaibhav took charge in October 2022. She hurled invectives at him and other officers during closed-door meetings and questioned the role of Vaibhav in ‘Let’s Inspire Bihar’ campaign.
On the condition of anonymity, another source said that Ohatker had spoken badly to DIG once and he fell unconscious. He also added that Vaibhav had been served multiple show-cause notices within a period of less than four months of taking the charge of Homeguards and Fire Services to which CNN-News18 has also access.
Soon after the matter became a topic of discussion of netizens and people around the corner, the chief minister replied to the controversy and said: “You should know this very well, anyone working in a job, an officer, their job is not to tweet. This is the worst thing. If they have a problem, they should inform their department, or seniors. They should convey it personally, not declare it publicly. This is the law. I have directed senior officials to investigate and understand the issue, and report it to me.”
CNN-NEWS18 PROBE
An investigation carried out by CNN-News18 found that Vaibhav on December 8, 2022 went to ACS (Home) Chaitanya Prasad and told him that Ohatker abused him in the name of his wife and her behaviour was indecent towards a serving officer. After further investigation, it was also found that on January 23, 2023, IG Vikas Vaibhav, DIG Vinod, Commandent Rajeev Ranjan went to meet ACS (home) and complained about the misbehaviour of the DG.
Subsequently, Vinod and Commandent Rajeev Ranjan also met Chief Secretary Amir Subhani on January 24. Vinod supposedly collapsed on January 20, after he was reprimanded by Ohatker.
Although Vaibhav refused to say anything officially, he said that he had received the notice, to which he will reply soon. However, Ohatker preferred not to answer any call.
IPS VIKAS VAIBHAV
From IIT Kanpur, Vikas Vaibhav cleared his UPSC in 2003 and since then he has served at top levels as the IPS officer in Bihar. Some of his many credentials are SSP Patna, SP National Investigation Agency (NIA), DIG, Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Bihar, Special Secretary Home and now IG, Homeguards and Fire Services. He has an experience of over 19 years in the IPS.
He arrested the Bahubali Bihar MLA, Anant Kumar Singh, in 2005.
Rohtas Fort, that was once ill-famed while under the grip of Maoists, was freed in an operation led by then SP Rohtas Vaibhav. He had unfurled the Tricolor at the fort for the first time in the history of India.
When IM operation chief Yasin Bhatkal was nabbed in Nepal and brought to Bihar by the National Intelligence Agency, Vaibhav arrested him officially and interrogated him.
In 2015, when then Bihar Congress President Ashok Chaudhary, currently a JDU minister, tried calling up then Patna SSP Vaibhav, asking him not to take action against some miscreants of his party’s student wing leaders, Vaibhav ordered Patna Police to book the caller for attempting to influence police investigation.
In March 2021, an initiative was launched under the patronage of Vaibhav called ‘Let’s Inspire Bihar’.
LIB is a voluntary social, cultural and educational initiative that seeks to promote and work upon the themes of education, egalitarianism and entrepreneurship in order to contribute towards the establishment of a better future for Bihar.
DG SHOBHA OHATKER
A 1990-batch IPS officer, Shobha Ohatker is famed for her iron-hand dealing with criminals and politicians, when it came to violation of law.
As SP Vaishali, she took on BJP MLA Nityanand Rai, who is now MoS Home department, in a murder case.
In the 2005 Bihar election, she arrested RJD minister late Udit Rai for venturing out with armed guards on polling day in his constituency. She was then the SP of Saran district.
Bettiah BJP MLA Renu Devi, who is also now a former deputy CM, was once involved in acrimonious exchanges with then Vaishali SP Ohatker. Although Ohatker faced bureaucratic hassles in her initial days, Lalu Yadav had appreciated her bravery. Ohatker had also been accused of misusing her official position as the Chief Vigilance Officer, Air India, in 2016.
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