UP CMO's 'abduction': Top district officials shunted out

Lucknow, Oct 14: Taking a serious view of alleged

of Gonda's Chief Medical Officer by a minister, the

government today shifted top district officials including the DM, the SP and the CMO and handed over the probe to Divisional Commissioner, Lucknow.

"The government has transferred District Magistrate Abhay, Superintendent of Police Kripa Shanker Singh, Chief Development Officer Arvind Kumar Singh and CMO S P Singh with immediate effect," an official spokesman said here.

The government had handed over the probe into the entire incident to Divisional Commissioner, Lucknow, Sanjeev Mittal, he said.

The Divisional Commissioner had been asked to submit his report to the government within a week, the spokesman said. He would also look into whether there was any lapse on part of the officials in execution of their responsibilities.

Roshan Jacob would be the new Gonda DM, Navneet Rana the SP and Munni Lal Pandey the CDO, the spokesman said adding the charge of the CMO had been given to senior-most Deputy CMO.

Under fire, minister of State for Revenue Vinod Kumar Singh resigned yesterday following allegation of abducting Gonda Chief Medical Officer S P Singh who made a dramatic appearance at his office soon after.

The minister, however, said he was innocent and the accusations were part of a conspiracy to malign his image.

PTI