Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot says IPS officer Pankaj Choudhary's transfer was a routine order

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday justified the transfer of Jaisalmer Superintendent of Police (SP) Pankaj Choudhary and said that this was a routine transfer and it has been unnecessarily made into a huge issue.

“This is a routine transfer. There were 49 officers, including him in the transfer list. There is absolutely no issue in this case. If a police officer is investigating one of the history sheets, why will he be penalized? There is no link between the two,” he told media here today.

Gehlot further said that under the Rajasthan Police Rules, no history sheets would be closed once they are opened for investigations.

“There is a provision in the Rajasthan Police Rules that if a history sheet of someone is opened, it can never be closed. And they have sent a circular to all SP’s in Rajasthan on July 14 that they make sure that the history sheets which are opened will not be closed. It is very unfortunate that an issue has been made out of nothing,” he added.

He also said that sometimes history sheets are also closed due to High Court’s order.

According to reports, Choudhary, who was serving as the Jaisalmer Superintendent of Police (SP), was reportedly transferred to a non-field post within 48 hours after he reopened the history-sheet of a local Congress MLA Saleh Mohammad’s father, Gazi Fakir.

The traders and residents in Jaisalmer have called for a shutdown on Sunday to protest against Choudhary's transfer.

Reports state that Ghazi Fakir has been involved in cross-border smuggling and other anti-social activities on the India-Pakistan border since two decades.

Fakir had a history sheet opened against him for the first time on July 31, 1965 but that file went missing in 1984.

The history sheet was reopened after six years in 1990 but it was closed in May 2011 by an ASP-rank official when he had been holding charge as SP.