GUWAHATI, May 30: The Assam police has been criminalised and corrupted and thus rendered weak and inefficient over the past several years, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ashok Kumar Sahu complained here on Thursday.

In a letter to state additional chief secretary C P Mishra, the IGP, an officer of the 1975 batch has also alleged that the Government had failed to take any remedial action against crime and corruption in the higher echelons of the State police.

Sahu's letter is in reply to an explanation sought by the additional chief secretary -- who also holds charge of the State Home Department as a principal secretary -- on some news items appearing in a section of the local press where he had passed several caustic remarks against the Government.

Sahu, whom the additional chief secretary has accused of blatantly violating the provisions of the All-India Services (Conduct) rules, 1968, has defended himself by saying that he had every right to point out corruption both as an ordinary citizen as well as a responsible officer of the Government.

The officer had earlier shot into fame in 1994 when he strongly criticised the then Chief Minister Hiteshwar Saikia for the latter's wrong policies in containing militancy, and was subsequently placed under suspension.

He was however soon reinstated, but that has only emboldened him to come out again, this time complaining that he was unable to fight corruption in the police all by himself.

``Corruption and the number of corrupt officers in the government have increased like anything and I am unable to keep fighting alone,'' Sahu told a vernacular daily earlier this month in a sensational front-page interview.

Sahu, who has already put in his papers for voluntary retirement a month ago in his reply to the additional chief secretary's explanation notice, has pointed out a number of corruption and criminal cases involving senior IPS officers of the state and regretted that the government had taken hardly any action against them.

In support of his claims, he referred to the case of IPS officer B K Mishra, who allegedly raped a constable's wife and against whom a prima facie case of moral turpitude and criminal offence has been registered, and also to another officer, Rajendra Awasthi of allegedly murdering a young businessman and hiding his body. ``At present, I have been taking the risk of pointing out the criminal activities of members of only the IPS officers, but there is much more,'' Sahu, talking to The Indian Express, claimed.

He regretted that in the case of B K Mishra, he himself, as the then IGP (CID) had conducted an enquiry and had established a prima facie case.

However, he was not included as a prosecution witness when a departmental proceeding was taken up.

``This exposes the government's intention not to punish the erring official. But on the other hand, it has been prompt enough to exercise its authority on officers like me to harass by fear of punishment so as to silence dissension in the civil service,'' Sahu informed the additional chief secretary.

Sahu has also said that he found it hard to compromise with conscience when human rights were violated at the behest of police officers. He points out another instance when a State police service officer was promoted to the IPS instead of being punished.

As many as two senior bureaucrats of the state -- former chief secretary H N Das and former home secretary T L Baruah on the other hand have been provided security by spending lakhs of rupees of public money ``without any sanction of the law'', he has pointed out.

``I shall stick to my stand. The Government is at liberty to take action against me,'' Sahu, who intends to join the BJP once his resignation is accepted, remarked.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.