Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday suspended a senior IPS officer who was seen, in a viral video, beating his wife after she confronted him at the house of a news anchor with a regional channel.
In a new twist, IPS officer Purshottam Sharma’s daughter claimed that her mother is suffering from “psychiatric issues“, and “orchestrated” the whole “drama“.
Sharma, a 1986-batch officer, was served a show-cause notice on Monday. “He has been suspended from the post of special director general with immediate effect,” Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Home Dr. Rajesh Rajora told PTI.
The suspension order came a day after the news anchor filed a police complaint against the wife and son of the IPS officer, accusing them of tarnishing her reputation.
The anchor submitted a complaint against Sharma’s wife and son at the Shahpura police station.
“As I am associated with journalism, I keep meeting officials and politicians quite often,” she said in her complaint.
“On Sunday (September 27), DG Purushottam Sharma called me around 7 pm, saying he is near my place, so I invited him over for a cup of tea,” she said.
The anchor said sometime later, Sharma’s wife also reached her flat. “I don’t know her but I opened the door out of courtesy, after which she forcibly entered the flat,” she added.
Sharma and his wife had a fight, after which the IPS officer left the house, she said.
She claimed that Sharma’s wife stayed back and asked her “unnecessary questions” and also made a video-recording of her bedroom, which was made viral on social media by Sharma’s son, making “baseless allegations” against her.
“DG Saab (Sharma) is like my father and he used to call me ‘beta’,” the anchor said. “I never realized that his coming to my home for a cup of tea will become such a big issue. It has tarnished my image and compromised my privacy,” she said in the complaint.
The police station in-charge said as this is a matter of causing disrepute, a complaint can be filed only in court.
The order to remove Sharma from the post of Director Public Prosecution and transfer him to the state secretariat without assigning him any post was issued by the state home department Under-Secretary Annu Bhalavi on Monday.
“Two videos related to you went viral on social media in which prima facie you are seen engaging in immoral behavior and domestic violence with your wife,” a show-cause notice issued by Bhalavi to Sharma had said.
“Your actions are in violation of the All India Services rules and therefore, you are directed to give your clarification on why disciplinary action should not be taken against you for your acts,” it had said.
Sharma’s son Parth, a deputy commissioner in the Income Tax Department, sent the video to state Home Minister Narottam Mishra and some senior bureaucrats and requested that a complaint be registered against his father.
On Tuesday evening, Sharma shared with media a letter written by his daughter. “It is not a case of a woman facing harassment but of a man being harassed,” he said, adding that he attached the letter to his reply to the show-cause notice.
In the letter addressed to the chief minister, home minister, and DGP, Sharma’s daughter claimed that her mother is suffering from a “chronic psychiatric disorder”.
She accused her mother of trying to “ruin” their lives and framing “conspiracies to provoke my father“.
She also accused her mother of manipulating her brother by showing him fabricated videos or images.
When asked whether she had written the letter, she told PTI over the phone that she had indeed written it.