PANAJI
As Goa’s new Director General of Police (DGP) Alok Kumar took charge on Monday, the outgoing DGP Jaspal Singh, whose transfer followed his alleged involvement in the Assagao house demolition to favour accused Pooja Sharma, admitted the incident affected him.
In his parting note to his department, Singh only hinted at the emotional toll it took due to the case. "No doubt, recent events did affect me, but we are soldiers and have the capacity to bear criticism. I am not angry with anyone. I am taking fond memories of Goa," he said.
In the transfer order dated July 12, the Ministry of Home Affairs transferred Singh to Delhi and replaced him with Kumar, who served as the Inspector General of CISF.
Singh’s role came under the scanner when suspended Anjuna Police Inspector Prashal Desai accused the IPS officer of using pressure tactics to alter the case in Sharma’s favour by directing him not to stop the demolition.
Desai, in his statement to Chief Secretary Puneet Goel, further accused Singh of threatening to frame him in a fake NDPS case stating that if transferred from Goa, he (Singh) would book an NDPS case and falsely record statements implicating the PI.
Singh explained that the job requires interaction with people while yet again implying the case. “Since our jobs involve interaction with people, things might go wrong due to communication gaps. Therefore, I tried to be as precise as possible... Since we are living in a world with people having conflicting objectives, friction is bound to arise. Some of you may have despised me due to my highly task-structured approach and zero-error policy, but I swear you all were like a team,” he justified.
“I had a very benevolent style of leadership - clarifying your roles, goals, and paths to attain them. I never expected the impossible from you. Everything we achieved, we achieved as a team. Policing is like a game of football. Everyone sees and keeps the record of goals being scored, but no one bothers to note the goal saves,” the outgoing DGP stated.
Meanwhile, the new DGP visited the assembly complex soon after taking charge.
