Lucknow, March 30 The Uttar Pradesh government transferred 27 IPS officers on Monday, including the Superintendent of Police of Shahjahanpur, who was embroiled in a controversy over the demolition of statues of three freedom fighters.
Superintendent of Police Rajesh Dwivedi of Shahjahanpur was posted as commandant of the 38th Battalion of PAC, Aligarh.
He was replaced by Saurabh Dixit, the Superintendent of Police of Firozabad.
Chandra Prakash, Inspector General of the Training Directorate, was appointed as the Inspector General of Security.
Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Anand of Amroha was transferred to Lucknow as Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Dwivedi's transfer followed a row over the demolition of statues of freedom fighters during road work by a private company in the city.
The incident on March 22 sparked outrage, leading to the suspension of a junior engineer and an assistant engineer, who were allegedly on leave at the time of the demolition.
Late on Sunday night, the state government transferred nine IAS officers, including Bipin Kumar Mishra, the Commissioner of Shahjahanpur Municipal Corporation.
He was replaced by Saumya Gururani, who was awaiting posting.
Mishra was appointed as the Additional Managing Director of Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC).
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the Congress held a protest demanding that Mishra's transfer be cancelled, and an impartial inquiry be ordered into the demolition.
The statues of Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Lal, and Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil – located near the municipal corporation office at the city's Town Hall – were demolished on the night of March 22.
The statues were reinstalled at the site on March 26 at the Chief Minister's order.
The company that carried out the demolition was blacklisted and booked.
Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan and Roshan Singh were hanged by the British on December 19, 1927, for robbing a train carrying the government's cash in August 1925 in the Kakori area of Lucknow.
