File photo: Durga Shakti Nagpal
The Uttar Pradesh government has filed a 10-page chargesheet against IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, whose suspension from her post in Noida has triggered national outrage. The document says that by risking communal harmony, Ms Nagpal showed she "lacks administrative acumen."
Government sources also say that the bureaucrat is being investigated for charges of land-grabbing, which amplifies the suggestion of vendetta against an honest officer trying to do her job.
Her supporters say Ms Nagpal, 28, has been punished for successfully combating the sand mining mafia, which allegedly has some powerful patrons among the ruling Samajwadi Party.
But Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, is adamant that Ms Nagpal endangered communal harmony on July 27 by ordering the demolition of a wall of a mosque that is being constructed in a local village.
In its chargesheet, sent to Ms Nagpal on Sunday evening, the government states, "In the month of Ramzan, when communal feelings are on a high, Durga Shakti Nagpal stands accused of getting the wall of a mosque demolished."
The document says "her decision is ill-timed" and "lacks foresight of the consequences that could follow as a result of the demolition. "
The chargesheet says that "Durga Shakti has shown that she lacks administrative acumen."
The government says that, "Ideally she should have stopped the construction of the wall, waited for the festival of Eid to get over and then taken a decision on whether the wall needed to be demolished or not."
UP officials also say that Ms Nagpal is being investigated now for complaints, allegedly made by locals, of encroaching upon public land and negotiating "land deals between two private parties."