Dimapur, April 9 (EMN): The deputy chief minister of Nagaland Y Patton, who also holds additional charge of the Home department, reportedly has asked Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to replace Nagaland’s Director General of Police (DGP) Rupin Sharma.
A letter purportedly written by Patton to Singh on March 28, containing said request, went viral on the internet on April 9.
According to the letter—in the letterhead of deputy chief minister and even a file reference code—the Incumbent DGP “does not possess the requisite experience necessary (sic) for being posted as DGP.”
Sharma’s ‘experience’ of serving as a police officer in Nagaland, according to the Home minister's purported letter, was limited to ‘just about one year’ as the superintendent of Police in Peren district. “Hence it is imperative that an officer having sufficient seniority and who is well aware of the local issues is posted as DGP of the state police,” the letter read.
Patton has suggested another IPS officer, Lungriading as replacement. But this is where things get interesting. According to the Home minister’s letter, Lungriading is a 1990-batch IPS officer.
“Actually to become DGP in other states of India one has to have completed 30 years of service but in the case of Nagaland as a special category, up to 28 years have been considered during the past years. Rupin Sharma has just 26 years of experience,” the letter reads. But it also informed that Sharma is a 1987 IPS cadre–three years senior to Lungriading.
That aside, reliable sources have said that Sharma’s stint was not limited only to Peren. He had served as sub-divisional police officer as well as additional superintendent of police in Dimapur; as deputy inspector general of police (CID) for Kohima; and as inspector general as well as additional director general of police at Kohima.
