Vaibhav Krishna said the video on social media having his picture is "morphed"

The Uttar Pradesh government has suspended one of its most well-known IPS officers, Vaibhav Krishna, who was chief of police in Gautam Budh Nagar or Noida in the National Capital Region. The trigger was a leaked letter purportedly written by the officer to his superiors, alleging rampant corruption in the ranks of Uttar Pradesh Police including against five serving IPS officers and serious charges of bribes for postings. All five IPS officers have also been removed from field postings.

Mr Krishna has also been in the news for a mobile phone video of an alleged sex chat featuring him and an unidentified woman that went viral in the last few days. The officer says the video is morphed and has filed a First Information Report or FIR. The UP government says initial investigations have revealed the video was not morphed.

"There will be zero tolerance against any corruption. We have formed a three member SIT with senior officers. They will complete their probe on all aspects of the case in 15 days. We will act against any other person found guilty in the case," a press release issued by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's office said.

In a press conference in the last week of December, Mr Krishna had said that the viral video on the social media having his picture and a woman's voice in the background is "morphed" and is part of "conspiracy" by criminal elements to malign his image. He said that in the last one year, he has taken strict action against the organised crime and extortion racketeer's in the district, and they are now hatching conspiracies to settle their score. "I myself have studied the video that is viral on social media. It appears that it is a conspiracy by criminal elements to damage my personal image," Mr Krishna had told media.

The allegations had come around the same time a letter written by the same officer in August last year to his superiors in Lucknow was also leaked to the press, allegedly by Mr Krishna himself. In the letter, Mr Krishna describes rampant corruption in postings and tenders by at least five serving UP police officers of the Indian Police Service or IPS.